Young Slayers
by Hexe
Summary: This is TOTALLY AU. a bunch of very familiar faces are all around 5, and live in a town in England owned by the watchers council, and are under the supervision of everyone's favourite watchers (okay, ex watcher as well). FINISHED! read last chapter
1. Chapter 1

Young Slayers  
  
Disclaimer: all the characters belong to Joss Whedon, not to me (unfortunately)  
  
Authors Note: This is TOTALLY AU. Buffy, Faith and Kendra were all born in England, and Giles was assigned as watcher to all of them once they were discovered. The three are all 5, and live in a town in England owned by the watchers council.  
  
CHAPTER 1  
  
"Buffy Anne Summers, you come back here NOW" Rupert Giles called to the 5 -year old potential slayer who was his ward. Tragically the childs mother and father had been murdered by a vamp when they tried to protect their child.  
  
Giles had been in charge of keeping an eye on the child, ever since she was two and her prescence had been brought to the council's attention, which made her the youngest child ever on record identified as a potential.  
  
After her parents death Giles had been appointed as the child's guardian, and he was very attached to the girl. Except at times like these.   
  
Buffy, although very strong and fast and with extensive weapons training despite her tender age, was nonetheless a typical 5-year old. She tended to run off at the slightest whim and completely ignore him when he told her to come back.  
  
It just wasn't dignified for a member of the watchers council to chace after a child. However Giles had to do more than his fair share of just that.   
  
Living in a small town owned by the watchers council meant that whenever he had to chase Buffy, he was almost certainly going to be seen by one of his fellow Watchers. He was certain every one of his colleages laughed at him behind his back.  
  
"BUFFY" he called again, to no avail of course. He sighed. And ran after the child.   
  
Buffy looked behind her and giggled. Silly Giles was chasing her again. She loved playing chase with Giles. But he looked rather mad. She decided to be nice to him. It wasn't his fault he couldn't run fast after all.  
  
She slowed down and allowed a puffing Giles to catch up with her. She never could understand why he got tired so easily. SHE could have run for ages.  
  
Giles scooped the squirming Buffy up in his arms and carried her back to the little house they shared with some of the other young potentials and instructors. All the potentials had instructors, but only Buffy and two other potentials, Kendra and Faith, also discovered before age 5 had watchers. Or Watcher to be exact. Giles had somehow ended up in charge of the whole trio.  
  
Oh of course the other Watchers, and older potentials helped out. But in the end it was Giles in charge of the three miniscule hellions.   
  
Faith and Kendra came running out to greet their playmate and best friend. Giles smiled as he watched the three tumbling together on the ground. They looked like normal kids, not the powerful Chosen One one of them might one day become.  
  
He smiled, thinking how sweet they looked, rolling around like a litter of puppies. But that illusion was shattered when the three of them jumped up and ran away, each of them going in a different direction.  
  
*Oh well* Giles thought. *Here we go again* and started after Buffy  
Authors note: U like? Please review if you do. I'll update it when I have at least 5 reveiws. That's not that many. I know this is fluffy-ish, and I promise a plot will develop, unless of course you want fluff, in which case that's what I'll write. Hey, I aim to please. And Yes I know its short. 


	2. Chapter 2

Young Slayers  
  
Disclaimer: Disclaimer: all the characters off BtVS belong to Joss Whedon, not to me (unfortunately) Travis Loket is mine  
  
Authors note: I just HAD to bring Willow. She's my fave, after Faith. I made up Willows mums name. I couldn't remember it. Or is Ira her mum? Oh well. Enjoy.   
  
CHAPTER 2:   
  
"GILES" one of the most important members of the council shouted. Giles sighed. No doubt one of his charges was up to something again. But weren't they all supposed to be training at the moment?  
  
"Yes sir, what is it?" he asked the watcher, Travis Loket. "Is it Buffy, Kendra or Faith this time?" His bet was on Faith. She had been all together too well behaved lately.   
  
Travis blinked at him "What? Oh the girls. No they're fine. In fact you're doing such a good job with them we want you to look after this one too." He pulled a small red headed child out from behind his leg. "She isn't a potential, she's the child of 2 watchers recently killed. We believe her to have very strong magick."   
  
*Why me?* Giles thought. ANOTHER child to keep track of. "What's her name sir?" he asked.   
"Oh I thought I told you. This is Willow Rosenberg. She is the daughter of Ira and Megan."  
  
Giles was shocked. He had not heard of the Rosenbergs' death. Or that they had a child for that matter.   
  
He took the girl by the hand "Hello Willow, I'm Giles. I used to know your parents" he said gently. Poor thing. This child looked so much more delicate than his little slayers. He wondered how they would react to her   
  
He took her to their house and set her up with a bed near the others. He found a case with her belongings in was already there, and they unpacked it together. The very top thing in the case was a book of simple magicks.  
  
"I can do all the spells in that book" Willow told him proudly. The child was only 5 and she had already finished that book? That was meant for children twice her age  
  
"So you can already read then Willow?" he asked, then remembered that she was a child of Watchers. Of course she could read.  
  
But the child didn't look at him like he was stupid. She nodded eagerly "I love to read" she told him. Ah she was a little scholar. Maybe she would understand that he needed quiet time to read sometimes. The others sure didn't.  
  
"I look after 3 little girls the same age as you" He told the child. "Would you like to meet them?" at her nod he smiled. "Well lets go then. DO you know what potentials are?"   
  
Another nod. "Good, well these three girls are all potentials, but they are 5, like you, they were discovered very early. I must warn you they can be a bit loud and rough, but I'm sure you will get along just fine" He was sure she would be fine with them. She might manage to calm them down somewhat and they might manage to bring her out of her shell.  
  
He lead Willow to the nearby arena, where his other charges were training with a staff master. The three of them were in a class with the other junior potentials, the youngest of whom was 8 and the eldest 12.   
  
He was amused to see his three sparring with the larger students and standing up to them rather well. Buffy had even got her opponent on the ground.  
  
"Can I borrow the trio?" he asked the master. The trio was what every one called his three potentials, since they were hardly ever seen apart. The master nodded and called them over.  
  
" hiya Giles" Buffy greeted him. Then she pointed. "Who's that?" Kendra and Faith were looking like they couldn't care less and wanted to get back to their spar partners.  
  
He decided to make the introduction quick. "Girls, this is Willow, she is a witch, and she is going to be living with us. I hope you will be nice to her."   
  
Kendra and Faith weren't interested but Buffy liked the look of the girl standing with Giles. "Hi she said. I'm Buffy and those two are Kendra and Faith. Can you spar?"  
  
Willow shook her head "I've only got basic weapons training. I'm nowhere near as good as you" Then she brightened. "But I'm good at tactics. I can help you figure out how to beat your opponent more easily"   
  
Buffy grinned at the new kid. They were going to get along just fine, with her strength and Willow's brain they were going to be an unstoppable team.  
  
Giles wisely left before Buffy made him spar with them.  
  
Authors note: So do you like this chapter? I can think of a lot of magick fun, with Giles at the centre, or would you rather I focused on the Potentials for a while and had willow minor? Or focus on one Potential in particular for a while? Tell me what you want and I'll try to comply.  
And about the you review, I post, it just means that I'll write the story, but not post it til ppl review. So if you like the story and want to read more plz review. 


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: all the characters belong to Joss Whedon, not to me (unfortunately)  
  
CHAPTER 3  
  
Faith kicked out hard at the man who was holding her in a firm grip. Her aim didn't fail. Her foot made sharp contact with his groin.  
  
Giles winced and let go of her, clutching the now painful part of his anatomy.   
  
"Faith, you were supposed to get out of my grip, not injure me, remember?" Giles told the feisty little girl who was grinning in amusement at his discomfort.  
  
She shrugged. "You let go didn't you?" Giles was starting to despair of the child EVER realising there were other ways to evade an attack. She tended to use brute strength whenever possible.  
  
That was the reason that Giles was stuck training the girl in the first place. The regular teacher of this subject was currently in the infirmary, due to Faith. She had stomped on his foot and broken several bones, in an attempt to escape a hold like the one Giles had just been holding her in.   
  
All of the other instructors had refused to teach her hand to hand, until she learned how to control herself in a spar.  
  
Giles had managed to impress on her that she was NOT to stomp on people, but obviously she didn't fully understand.  
  
"OK Faith, this time I want you to try and TWIST out of the hold. No kicking, punching, or other moves causing me to let go out of pain. Got it?" he asked patiently.   
  
The child nodded, and he took her up in the hold. The child wriggled, but wasn't able to escape. Then she turned her head upwards and spat in his face.  
  
"FAITH" Giles yelled. The child put on her innocent face.  
"What, I didn't hurt you, you didn't say I couldn't spit"   
  
Giles had had enough now. "Go play Faith, we'll do more tomorrow" Giles heard smothered giggling. He turned. Willow was sitting in the corner, obviously watching him, but pretending to read.  
  
"Willow, your book's upside down," He pointed out. She blushed and turned it the right way up.  
  
Giles was puzzled; he had thought the girl would be with Buffy. Buffy had completely taken the red head under her wing. And she didn't have training or classes at the moment.  
  
"Willow, where's Buffy?" he asked, getting a sneaking suspicion that certain young potentials were somewhere, getting into mischief.  
  
Willow pulled a face that she thought was the picture of innocence. Actually it was more of a wince of guilt. Her three friends were off getting in trouble, as was pretty normal.  
  
She had chosen to stay here, to distract Giles, since she wanted to go with them, but hated getting into trouble.  
  
But now Giles was suspicious. What could she say that would distract him? "Giles, I was reading your advanced magic book," she blurted desperately.  
  
Giles looked at her. No she hadn't, that book had a powerful alarm spell on that would have gone off if she had even touched it. OK, what were the others up to?  
  
"Willow, we both know that's not the truth, now where are the others?" He asked, allowing a spark of annoyance to enter his voice. Willow winced. What could she do now?  
  
"Do you promise not to get mad at them?" she asked. She hated herself for doing this, but that look. She couldn't resist telling him. She just hoped he wouldn't get too mad.  
  
"They went to see Angel," she blurted. Giles's face blackened. Angel was a favourite with the young kids. They loved his game face, and to play vamp and slayer with him was their favourite pastime.  
  
But Giles had forbidden his charges to go and see Angel on their own. The souled vampire lived in the nearby forest, but his place was well hidden. The last time he had allowed the trio to go on their own they had gotten hopelessly lost. It had taken him HOURS to find them.  
  
"But they took a map this time" Willow piped nervously. That didn't lessen the stupidity of the children. None of them were good with maps. Willow still looked guilty though, she wasn't telling him something.  
  
"Willow, what did you do?" He asked her. He suspected it would have something to do with magic, which she wasn't supposed to be practicing without him or another adult there. He wasn't wrong.  
  
"I kina enchanted it so that they couldn't get lost" She admitted glumly. Giles was surprised. That was an extremely hard spell. He hadn't thought the child was good enough to perform it yet. Obviously he was wrong.  
  
"Come on" He said to her with a sigh "We had better go and meet them there."  
  
Meanwhile Buffy, Faith and Kendra were well on the way to Angels place. They were all giggling at the way Faith had been treating Giles. "You spat in his FACE" Buffy exclaimed, her face bright red from laughing so much.  
  
"Yeah you shoulda seen the look he gave me" Faith giggled. Kendra said nothing. She was feeling a bit guilty for going to see Angel, when Giles had said not to.  
  
"Hey guys, do you think maybe we should have just asked Giles to take us?" she asked her companions. They shook their heads  
  
"No, you know what he's like, he wouldn't let us have any fun" Faith said lightly   
  
"And you know he wouldn't take us after what we did yesterday" Buffy added.   
  
Faith, Kendra and Buffy had been purposely antagonising the other Watchers recently. Their most recent act had been stealing the glasses of several of them, including Giles.   
The two of them had then hid them all around the camp. Giles had NOT been amused when he found his in their garden, coated in soil and manure.  
  
Kendra sighed. They were going to be found out, she knew. She wouldn't be surprised if Willow had already cracked. Oh well, it was her own fault. She could have chosen to stay with Willow.  
  
Finally the three reached Angels house. And found an irate Giles waiting for them, along with a downcast Willow. He had taken a much shorter route than the girls, which they didn't know about.  
  
He marched the three back home in a stony silence. Angel had chosen to come too, but that didn't lighten the mood at all. The vamp kept a supply of blood back in the town, since he didn't have electricity. It came in useful when hunting was light, like now.  
  
Angel left them to their own devices when they got to the town. He hoped they weren't going to be in too much trouble. He relished his visits from his young friends, and was extremely fond of them all, especially Buffy.  
  
As per usual Giles's charges used their adorable looks to escape punishment. Giles sighed. He was just a softy and he knew it. But they were just so CUTE.  
  
Authors note: So do you want more of Angel in later chapters? And would you prefer I went back to the shorter chapters? It's easier to make them fluffy. This chapter just came because some people wanted Angel in, and this was the only way I could think of. Please keep reviewing everyone. And tell me what you would like in the story, changes, suggestions etc. 


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: all characters from the show aren't mine, they belong to Joss Whedon. Travis Loket is mine   
  
Authors note: OK to answer things people asked:  
1. Yes the slayers are still 5 in chapter 3, and Angel is just a playmate of theirs. No I don't think its wrong letting them visit him, you could say he's like an uncle/ WAY older cousin type figure. Plus people wanted him in.  
2. No B/A until the kids are WAY older. God, I'm not having a five- year old going out with a 245 (?) year old vamp.  
3. I might bring in some of the other characters, but don't count on all of them. Don't forget all the potentials are girls. If I got one boy in, I'd have to bring others as well (imagine the cat fights when they get older if I didn't)  
4. Heaps of People want spike in, I'll try, but I'm not promising.  
  
OK I hope this answers the things you asked and now I will write the new chap. Oh and BTW, this isn't going to be updated at this speed normally, because I have to go back to school on Monday. I'd love to keep doing it like this but I cant cos of H/W, assignments, band practice etc.  
  
CHAPTER 4.  
  
Travis Loket gripped two of the young potentials hands and pushed the third in front of him. He sighed. He knew the three were only 5, but still, when were they going to learn?   
  
*At least the Rosenberg child is fairly well behaved* he thought to himself. * But these three more than cover for her*. A day hardly ever went by that they weren't in some kind of trouble. This time he had found them in the council's armoury, playing with the weapons. ALL potentials were forbidden to enter there. And even most of the Watchers weren't allowed in.  
  
But he was puzzled as to how they had got into there. The door should have been too heavy for them to open. It was solid lead, and it took two full- grown men to open it. How could these three tiny things have opened it?   
  
Not to mention the lock. Only he and the most senior of the other watchers knew the code.   
  
Well he could wonder about that later. Once these three were back with Giles. Travis really didn't know what to do with children. They confused him. Especially these three. They were so strong, fast and good as fighting. In that respect their maturity was that of an adult. An extremely well trained adult.  
  
He knew these three were technically prodigies. They could outclass students three times their age. But then they pulled stunts like this. And his opinion of them spiralled downwards.  
  
He shook his head. Well they were Giles' responsibility, not his, thank goodness.   
  
"GILES" He called when they neared the little slayers house. Giles came walking out with a look of dread on his face. It soon left when he saw the trio accompanying Travis.  
  
Giles sighed with relief. He had thought Travis was going to entrust him with ANOTHER child to look after. Since the potentials were with him, that meant that the three of them had just been up to mischief. THAT he could deal with.  
  
"Where were they THIS time" he asked Travis, plastering a stern look on his face. He looked at his charges faces. Kendra looked guilty, Faith defiant. Buffy just looked sheepish. And Willow she looked- hang on a minute, Willow wasn't with them.  
  
"They were in the armoury" Travis told him, dropping Faith and Kendra's hands and pushing the three towards Giles. He glared at them.   
  
"WHAT ON EARTH WERE YOU DOING IN THERE??" He yelled at them. Some of the weapons in that building were extremely dangerous. And valuable.   
  
"You could have been badly hurt" He continued, in a slightly more normal voice.   
  
Travis looked uncomfortable "Um, well I'll leave you to it" he said, and scuttled off.  
  
Giles continued to scold his charges. He impressed on them the seriousness of this. They could have been locked in. Been injured. Broken something. Giles was sure he wouldn't have been able to stand it if they had been hurt. He adored the children, although he tried not to show it.  
  
His charges were all looking ashamed by the time he had finished with them. They looked so sorry he couldn't punish them. He was sure they understood what they had done wrong, and wouldn't do it again.  
  
He remembered his fourth charge. "Girls, where's Willow?" he asked them. Instantly the three turned on their innocent faces, which he had to say were a lot better than Willow's.  
  
"Isn't she here?" Faith asked sweetly. NOW Giles was really worried. Faith being sweet? He thought not.   
  
"GIRLS" he said warningly. Kendra cracked. She was better than Willow at withstanding his glare, but the other two outpaced her by far.  
  
"She kinda accidentally turned herself into a kitty, and now she can't turn herself back" He should have guessed. Magick again. Willow was pretty well behaved about most things, but when she saw a spell she liked, she used it.  
  
The armoury doubled as storage for the more advanced spells. So Willow had been on in this little escapade too had she? Once again he was amazed by the child's ability. He hadn't managed that spell until he was in his late twenties. And he had been one of the earliest.  
  
"Where is she?" he asked. He was glad he had personal experience with that particular spell. Otherwise he would have had to ask one of the other Watchers to help him. And he REALLY didn't want to do that. Another would not be forgiving to Willow about this type of thing. And he didn't want the girl in too much trouble, she was just curious, that was all.  
  
He would have to spend more time teaching her if she was going to keep doing this kind of thing. She needed to be able to reverse spells as well as cast them. He decided that he would tell her that her punishment was extra magick lessons. She would believe him of course, and work extra hard because of it, even though it was something she liked doing.  
A small orange tabby kitten walked out from behind a nearby bush. He quickly said the reversal spell and the small cat turned into the small Willow. She had a very contrite and sheepish look on her face.  
  
"I'm sorry Giles. I forgot to memorise the reversal spell, and I couldn't read when I was a kitty" She told him. Of course she couldn't. He was surprised the child hadn't known that. She would have still had her intelligence, but she wouldn't have been able to read, write, or talk human.   
  
If she had memorised the spell however, it would have been easy enough to speak it in the language of the animal she had turned herself into.  
  
Giles put a stern look on his face. "I'm sorry Willow, but you cant keep doing spells, I'm afraid I'm going to make you have 2 extra hours of lessons with me each day" There, that should do it.  
  
His ruse worked "Yes Giles, I understand" the child said, looking at her feet.   
  
Giles smiled around him. "OK everybody, your all forgiven, just don't do it again" His charges nodded agreement.  
  
"I believe the proper thing to say here is: Who wants some Ice-cream" Giles proclaimed.  
  
His charges shared a look. He was a softy, and they all loved him for it  
  
Authors note: What do you think? I put the ice cream thing in because they always seem to be saying that after kids have been forgiven for being in trouble on TV shows. Know what I mean or am I just insane? Anyway I thought it made a nice ending. Please review, I know I'm repeating myself, but I really appreciate getting feed back.   
  
And the next chapter? I MIGHT bring another member of the Scoobies, or Fang Gang in. But only if I can think of a good way to do it. Please tell me who you most want. Not Spike, he may come by later, but I mean out of the humans (or werewolves!) I think at the moment it's out of the guys (oz, xander and Wes) but you can say any. I'll choose the one who is the most popular and attempt to write them in. I might just comply to all of your wishes at some stage though, so review and tell me what you want. 


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: All characters that appear on the TV shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel are the property of Joss Whedon.  
  
Authors note: And the new characters are (drumroll please) OZ and WES. Oz cos he was the most wanted and Wes cos I thought it would be unfair to give Giles ANOTHER kid to look after. He has his hands full already. And forgive me, but Wes is like he was on Buffy for the moment. He should lighten up later though.  
  
CHAPTER 5  
"Daniel, would you come back here and stop that ridiculous gallivanting" Wesley Wyndham-Price called to his 6 year old charge who was running ahead pretending to be a wolf.  
  
Oz turned and growled at his guardian. Didn't the guy know that you shouldn't annoy a werewolf?  
  
Wesley stared at the child in astonishment. The boy had GROWLED at him. How dare he. Had he no respect for his elders?  
  
"My names OZ, not Daniel" Oz stated firmly.  
  
"I told you before DANIEL, I will not call you by that infernal nickname you have invented for yourself" Wesley said stuffily.   
  
Wesley had been assigned to the boy by the Council. The child's parents had helped the watchers in the past, and when they were killed in a plane crash the watchers had felt they had some responsibility for the boy.  
  
What they had NOT known was that the child was a werewolf. THAT had been discovered later, and the council had not mentioned the fact to Wesley until after he had agreed to watch over the child.  
  
Then of course he could not go back on his word. To do so would be to destroy his honour among the Watchers. So he had looked after the child as best he could.   
  
A few weeks ago he had received orders from the council. He and his ward were to go and live in Traverston, the small town owned by the council (Quentin Travers had been the one who founded the place, and had chosen to name it after himself).   
  
Apparently the council had decided that the boy should have playmates of his own age, but still be in a place where he could be supervised by the watchers Council at all times.   
  
Wesley was a bit apprehensive about this move. As far as his knowledge went, there were mainly female children in the town, with the few exceptions being children of watchers.  
  
Daniel and Wesley would not be living with the watchers however, they would be among the potentials, for most of the watchers did not wish their children to play with a WEREWOLF, it just wasn't decent. He could bite them.  
  
The potentials had no parents there to object, so it was among them they were to live.   
  
Wesley was not sure how the boy would react to being among all thoses girls, and also as far as he knew all but 4 of the children in that part of the town were much older than his charge.  
  
And these four? They were becoming notorious as troublemakers among the watchers council. Tales of them had reached Wesley's ears and he was NOT impressed.   
  
The watcher in charge of them must be very slack, he thought. He was not sure her wanted Daniel to mix with the four of them either. He was already enough trouble, without being placed in the prescence of children who were likely to have a negative influence on him.  
  
Oz ran ahead again. Wow! This was the place they were going to be living? Cool. He wondered if there were any kids his age here. He'd been stuck with only stuffy Wes for company for about a year. It sure would be cool to be with people the same age as him.  
  
Just then a little redheaded girl ran into him. She looked about his age. He decided to be friendly and introduce himself.  
  
"Hey, I'm Oz, who're you?" He asked, thinking how nice this strange girl looked in her blue overalls with a bunny on.  
  
"I'm Willow" the girl replied softly. "Sorry I knocked you over Oz" Willow looked at the boy she had run into. Oz. What a weird name. She decided she liked it.  
  
"Daniel Osbourne, would you come BACK" An irate Wesley called. He caught up with his charge and found the boy talking to a little girl who looked around the same age as him.  
  
Oh no. If she was about the same age as him. That meant she was one of the terrible foursome. Strange. He had been imagining wild looking things, with uncontrolled hair and messy clothes. This child looked well kempt. And, well kind of sweet.  
  
Then the figures he had been imagining ran up to the red head. Three of them. Oh god. Damn his imagination, why couldn't they have all looked like the little red head?  
  
A slightly out of breath man, wearing tweed came up, chasing after the little girls. Ah. This must be Rupert Giles. The watcher assigned to the four children.  
  
Giles looked at the younger man standing next to him. Ah. This must be the new watcher. The one in charge of the young werewolf. And that must be the werewolf. Strange. He had been imagining a snarling child, with wild hair, and who looked like he would turn on someone any minute. This boy was smartly dressed, even if his hair was a little messy.  
  
He turned to the new watcher, who was to live with then. "Hello, Wesley isn't it? I'm Rupert Giles. Guardian of those four. Welcome to Traverston."  
  
Giles called his four wards over and introduced them. "Girls, this is Mr Wyndham- Price. He is going to be living with us, along with his charge Daniel Osbourne. Wesley, I would like to introduce Faith, Kendra and Buffy, who are potentials and Willow, who is a student witch"   
  
Wesley smiled weakly at the four. So the quiet looking one was a witch? Well she looked studious at least. He would try and persuade Daniel to spend more time with her. Maybe she would be a good influence on him.   
  
As Giles' charges ran ahead to show their new friend where he would be staying, Giles himself conversed with Wesley. The man seemed rather stuffy, but most of the council was.  
  
He noticed the younger man was looking disapprovingly at the three young potentials. Giles knew that the antics of the children had spread throughout the council. He just hoped that Wesley was not going to be too shocked by the way they acted.  
  
As Giles saw young Oz with his four charges, it was obvious they would get along fine. And as for Wesley? Well only time would tell.  
  
Authors note: ok to RufusRuff(Ruth I would like to point out that TRAVIS happens to be the CHARACTER NAME, nothing to do with Quentin Travers OK? And if someone will give me the name or whatever of a beta-reader I might use them. At the moment I use the spell check on my computer, which I know is not the same, but I have no idea where to find a beta reader. Anyway I hope everyone likes this chapter, maybe some Will/Oz fluffyness in the next chap. Please review. 


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: if you want one, read the other chapters, I'm sick of writing it out each time.  
  
CHAPTER 6  
Oz watched, his eyes wide as his three friends sparred. They were so GOOD. It was the first time he had seen them in action and he was entranced. They were so graceful, making the fight look almost like a dance. Then he looked at Willow, and couldn't help smiling at the difference.  
  
Willow had recently taken up the same lessons as her friends. She had insisted she could do it, and badgered Giles about it until he gave in.  
  
Willow tried as hard as she could, but still cast a comical figure. She just wasn't made for fighting. She was more a books type girl. Oz looked at her fondly. She looked so funny, dancing around, attempting to duplicate the moves she was being shown.  
  
He couldn't help letting a small chuckle escape. As one the three potentials turned and gave him a glare. How on earth had they heard him? He shrugged it off. Oh well, those three were always weird. He was getting used to it.  
  
Oz wished he could join in the sparring. It looked like fun. But Wesley had forbidden it. He said that Oz had to learn scholarly pursuits before he was allowed to try fighting.  
  
Oz was NOT happy about this, but there wasn't a lot he could do, short of openly defying his guardian. And THAT would just prove Wes' views on his new friends.  
  
Wes insisted that the three young potentials were a bad influence on Oz. He was just waiting for Oz to do something wrong. Oz was fairly sure that would mean the end of his being allowed to play with the potentials.   
  
Willow he wasn't sure about. Wes seemed to like Willow somewhat. He obviously thought that because she was sweet looking, and liked books she was a young angel. He supposed compared to the others she WAS.  
  
But then there was the stuff Wes didn't know about. The use of magick to assist her friends in their misadventures for one. But Oz was fairly sure no-one but him and the other 4 knew about that.  
  
It was not unknown for Willow to cast some small spell or another, just to help her friends. Of course she normally only did it through peer pressure. But still.  
  
Sobbing brought his mind back to the sparring field. Willow was on her back, crying and clutching her ankle.   
  
He ran over to his little friend. The older student she had been sparring, who had been going easy on Willow looked sheepish. The teacher came over.   
  
"Willow, go and sit this one out OK?" He said tiredly. He was used to Willow having problems. She tended to be a bit clumsy, at both striking and defending. Obviously, this sometimes led to accidents. Of course the child tried, but she just didn't have the right skills.  
  
Oz gave his friend a hand up, and helped her over to the edge of the training fields, where he had been sitting previously.  
  
"You OK?" He asked her, once they were sitting down, watching the rest of the class. She nodded, smiling at him. But there was a wince in her smile.  
  
On a whim he put his arm around her to comfort her. He was surprised at how natural it felt.   
  
Willow was surprised. Oz had put his arm around her. And it felt nice, comfortable. Oz was a nice boy, she really liked him. And he understood her it seemed. He was quiet at times too. Understood that sometimes you just wanted to be on your own.  
  
Buffy looked over at Willow, wondering if she should go and sit with her friend. When she saw how Oz and Willow were sitting she grinned to herself. Willow was fine. Oz would look after her. And that meant Buffy was free to continue sparring. She turned to her opponent and started again, like a little whirlwind.  
  
Giles came over from their home to watch his charges. He liked to see how they were progressing. And to help avoid any situations which could arise, like Faith with the hand on hand. He didn't want to have to train ANY of them in staff fighting. They were excellent at it, and he was not sure that he would be able to beat them.   
  
He sighted the three potentials. But where was Willow? When he saw her he smiled. Her and the little werewolf looked so sweet together, with Oz with his arm around Willow's shoulder. They were good for each other. Oz was more sedate for than the little potentials, and it was nice for Willow to have someone who would listen to her.   
  
He looked at the two little friends again and smiled. He felt that these two would be close for ever, and someday, maybe more than just friends. But not for MANY years, he thought protectively.   
Authors note: Short, I know, but I wanted to get this chap finished and posted today. No real W/O romance. They're 5. Hugs is enough for now right? I'm thinking of maybe skipping ahead a few years, so Oz is 8, and the others 7. I still want them to be little, but I also think this fic needs to go somewhere. If I bring more characters it wont be for a few chapters. Please review this chapter if you read it. 


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: all characters from the show/s belong to Joss Whedon etc etc  
  
CHAPTER 7  
The vampire leapt at the young girl standing in front of him. They traded blows for a while, but the vamp's superior strength overpowered the 13 year old. He forced her to the ground and lent over her.  
  
Angel offered his hand down to the potential he had just defeated. " Nice try" He told her. "But if I had been a normal vamp you would be dead right now"  
  
He turned to the rest of his class. "Okay. Who's next?" he asked. Most of the girls surrounding him looked shocked at how quick the fight had been. They shook their heads as he looked around the room for another volunteer.  
  
Angel was here to train the potentials in what an actual vampire fight would be like. He couldn't do that if none of them would fight him. He was about to choose someone at random when a small voice piped up from the back of the room.  
  
"Can I have a go?" Kendra asked the large vampire who was instructing them. She thought she could see a few gaps in his style, which she could use to beat him. She walked to the centre of the room where Angel was standing.  
  
Angel smiled down at his young friend. So Kendra thought she could beat him did she? Well she could TRY. "Sure, come on then" He said to her.  
  
The two took up their fighting stances and began. Angel lunged at Kendra, but she easily evaded him. Then she struck out with a kick aimed at his legs. And scored a hit.  
  
Angel was surprised. The child had actually misbalanced him. He turned the sprawl into a flip and regained his stance.  
  
Kendra smiled to herself. He had fallen at her strike. None of the older kids had made him lose balance. She decided to play it simple, and wait for a gap in his defence.  
  
Angel paused for a millisecond. And Kendra took her chance. She leaped up and hit the vampire full on with a powerful spin kick.  
  
Angel felt himself flying backwards, and tried to rebalance again. But it was no use. Before he knew what had happened he was lying on his back, with a tiny 5 year old holding a stake poised above his heart.  
  
Angel carefully raised his hands to admit defeat. Kendra climbed off his chest and he stood up.   
  
He addressed his class "And THAT" he told them "is one way to defeat a vampire attack. Good work Kendra" The others girls applauded and looked slightly in awe of the small child who had just defeated a vamp who had to be nearly 3 times her size.  
  
Angel dismissed his class, reminding them to be here the same time tomorrow. Then he went off to ponder how the child had beaten him. He wouldn't fall for the same strategy twice. That was sure.  
  
Kendra looked after the souled vampire. She hoped she hadn't hurt his feelings. He was her friend. She didn't want to make him sad. She shrugged it off. He was just peeved because someone had beaten him. Faith got like that too. She went off to find her friends.  
  
Angel sat alone in his dark room, thinking about his defeat. No Potential had ever beaten him in spar before. And the first time he was defeated it was by a small child. That stung his pride. But it also made him VERY glad Kendra was his friend. If she wasn't, and that had been a real fight, well he would be a pile of dust by now.  
  
In fact he could just imagine Kendra in the place of many of the girls he had killed as Angelus. If only they had been able to fight like her. So many lives would not have been lost, if someone had just staked him before he regained his soul. Thinking of his terrible past deeds brought a lot to the surface. And set him imagining.  
  
What would Kendra be like when she was older? What about Buffy and Faith? Willow and Oz?  
  
He smiled at the images that appeared in his head. Buffy would still be headstrong. Faith defiant. Kendra, well her he imagined as wholely dedicated, nothing swaying her from the tasks that life sent her.  
  
And all of them, he imagined, would be fiercly competitive. That thought saddened him. He hoped his imagery was not too close to the truth. A friendship could be ruined by competition. He knew that from experience. He had lost so many friends in his human life. He hoped his young friends would remain so. Friends. Forever. And he hoped he would be there always, to guide them and train them.   
  
He shook of the melancholiness that had hit him at the thought of the young ones being older. They weren't. Right now they were fun loving 5- year olds. And he was going to make the most of it.   
  
Angel went off to find his friends. Luckily they were inside so he could join them. They welcomed him eagerly and they began their game.   
  
He smiled contentedly as he raced around after the girls and Oz, playing big- bad vamp. They were young and fairly innocent. And he was going to get the most out of it. Play while they still wanted to.  
Authors note: not like the other chapters I know. But I wanted Angel in again. Plus a bit more of Kendra. And this is what happened when I started writing. Please review. I'll try and post the next chapter in a few days. 


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: all characters from the show aint mine, theyre Joss Whedons  
  
Authors note: This chap is gidgetgirls fault. She just HAD to get the idea stuck in my head. Grrr. :)  
  
CHAPTER 8  
Oz sat quietly in the corner of the room, watching Willow. She was practicing her magick under the supervision of Giles. At the moment she was concentrating on floating a cup of water, and keeping it stable.   
  
Oz grinned. This was a bit boring. He decided to liven it up a little. The next time he saw that Willow was looking at him he pulled a face. She started to giggle and lost control of her spell. The cup flew forward and the water splashed out. Both straight into Giles' face.  
  
The look on his face was priceless. Then he got over his surprise and turned to Oz "Don't you EVER do that again Daniel" he said in all seriousness. "I could have been seriously injured if that water had been in a glass"   
  
Oz blanched. He hadn't thought of that. He had just wanted to make the lesson a little more fun for Willow.  
  
Giles smiled at the child. He knew he hadn't meant to cause trouble. And even Giles had to admit, levitation was rather a boring thing to watch. " Willow, we're finished for today. Why don't you and Oz go and find the others"   
  
He watched the two scatter off. They were such sweet kids. But sometimes he wished they were older, more mature. It was beginning to get very tiring training Willow. She had such a short attention span.  
  
He thought about what he could do to keep her interest. She really did seem to prefer interactive lessons. Well what child wouldn't?   
  
He smiled to himself. Willow's recent kitty escapade had just given him an idea.  
  
The next day Willow came running to her magick lesson excitedly. And alone. Giles had told her they were doing something fun today. But that none of the others were allowed to see.  
  
She was intrigued. What could they be doing. Ideas of turning invisible, flying and other things she deemed fun popped into her head.  
  
Of course Giles could have a completely different idea of fun. Her images were replaced by ones of floating pencils, and reading huge thousand year old texts.   
  
That dampened her spirits a little. OK, so those things could be INTERESTING, but she wouldn't call them fun.  
  
She shrugged it off. Well whatever it was at least for now there was some air of mystery about it.  
  
Giles smiled as he saw Willow come rushing up. She WAS going to like this, he could tell. And Giles wouldn't exactly hate it himself.  
  
He thought back to his younger days. Post Ripper, but pre present. He had loved pushing his magick to the limits, and finding and testing new spells, and although the spell he and Willow were going to perform was not that hard. It really was fun.  
  
Willow looked at the smug grin on her teachers face. She hadn't EVER seen him look like that. Maybe this WAS going to be good.  
  
"OK Willow" Giles began when his student was inside and ready to start. "Today we are doing something you already have a little experience in. Transmogrification."   
  
Willow felt her face light up into a grin. Goody. She loved turning into things. Being a cat had been so fun, at least until she discovered she couldn't turn herself back.  
  
"What're we turning into??" She asked, almost bouncing in her excitement. She hoped it was a bird. Then she could fly as well. Or maybe a lion. THAT would be cool. But somehow she doubted it. It was more likely to be a mouse or something.  
  
Giles smiled at his excited student. "Nothing too advanced today" he warned her. "We're going to be squirrels, but maybe we can try something a bit more exciting another time"   
  
Willow didn't care. She LIKED squirrels. They were cute. And they could climb trees. Climbing trees was fun.   
  
Willow pored over the spell Giles had told her to memorise. Unfortunately he wasn't going to let her change until she could do the spell BOTH ways. Obviously, this was the not so fun part of the lesson.   
  
Giles looked on in pride as his student studied the spell he had given her. She was so talented for her age. He suspected it would take her less than half an hour to learn the whole thing. I normal child of her age would not be able to understand it at all.   
  
His hypothesis was correct. Less than an hour later he and Willow were roaming the woods in squirrel form.   
  
Willow scampered around excitedly. This was so much fun. She felt so free. And seeing the forest from this level was different from normal. She stopped, startled. Was that thunder? No it sounded more like, really loud footsteps.  
Her ears were so much more sensitive as a squirrel. That sound had nearly deafened her. She looked around for the source. And almost fell over in shock. It was Oz and the others. She had never expected to see THEM here.  
  
Giles almost groaned when he saw his other charges. They couldn't see him and Willow. They tended to chase small furry things. And that could turn out very awkward.  
  
"Look" Buffy exclaimed. "Squirrels. Lets chase 'em" She continued in true 5 year old fashion.  
  
The fearful foursome started to chase the grey and the red squirrels. Faith let out a war cry and leapt around like a crazy person.  
  
Giles and Willow ran for their lives. Or at least their immediate safety. Giles considered turning back to human there and then. But that might terrify the children, one minute chasing a squirrel, the next having their guardian running in front of them.  
  
He darted up the first tree he came to, and saw Willow following suit.   
  
The little hunters sighed in disappointment. Their quarry had gotten away. Oh well. They were really here to practice fighting, where no one could tell them off for doing stuff they weren't supposed to.  
  
Buffy drew a short sword from the bag she was wearing, then brought out a crossbow- Faiths weapon of choice.   
  
Faith grinned evily and started shooting at trees. Kendra drew her own sword and the two began a fencing match.  
  
Oz wandered over to the edge of the clearing they were in. He had been dragged along to keep watch. Boring job. But he couldn't fight, and someone had to keep watch.   
  
It was strange, he thought to himself, that red squirrel kinda reminded me of Willow, somehow. Of course that was just his imagination. Willow was doing something magick with Giles. He settled down to keep watch.  
  
Giles looked on, outraged, as his charges blatently broke the simple rules he had set them. Willow was not allowed to practice magick without supervision, and the others weren't allowed to fight. They had AGREED.  
  
That was it. They were in trouble this time. And they weren't getting out of it by being cute. He muttered the spell removal incantation, after jumping to the ground of course.  
  
The girls turned around, startled, when they heard footfalls behind them. They were even more shocked to see who it was.   
  
He glared at them and Oz, and turned back towards the village. They fell into a scraggly bunch, and he heard Willow, human again join them.  
  
He marched to the village in stony silence. He was FURIOUS with them this time. This wasn't just a matter of them being disobedient, but that they could have hurt themselves. Why didn't they THINK about these things sometimes.  
  
The miscreants shared a glance as they scrambled to keep up with their guardian. Giles was REALLy mad this time. What was going to happen?  
  
Authors note: mwa ha ha. Sorry bout the place this is ending. I'll try to update soon, but I wanted this posted.   
Sorry gidgetgirl. I expected to post this the day I reviewed your story, but I didn't get time to finish it until today. Its probably not what you meant, but hey, maybe there will be more animal antics another time :) 


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: characters are Joss Whedon's, not mine.  
  
Authors note: sorry, it's been ages I know. Tests, homework, you name it; I've got it at the moment. Anyway. Enjoy and I'll try to make the next update sooner.  
  
CHAPTER 9  
Faith looked sullenly ahead as Giles lectured her. God he was so BORING. She knew she was in trouble, knew what was going to happen even.   
  
Giles had decided to tackle the trio separately. He thought he might have more luck at the being stern thing if there was only one cute young child looking at him with that look on their face, their eyes just begging him to forgive them.  
  
It seemed to be working, at least somewhat. Two down, one to go. He had managed to scold the other two without losing his nerve, even when Buffy was busy looking like she was about to burst into tears. That child would make a premium actress one day.  
  
He had been quite happy to turn Oz over to Wes when they got back. He was after all his responsibility, not Giles'. He did hope that Wesley wasn't too hard on the boy though. Oz hadn't actually been doing anything wrong; he was really only an accessory to the mischief.  
  
Faith started to shift impatiently. Could the guy lecture any slower? She knew what punishment she was getting; it was the same as the others. Extra chores and no weapons classes for a month. Yeah it sucked. But hey, did he really think they were gonna stick to it?  
  
Giles noticed his lecture wasn't exactly inspiring awe in the most defiant of his little gang. He sighed. Sometimes he didn't know what to do with Faith. She just ignored him if he tried to scold her.   
  
Well he didn't know what else he could do. He just wasn't good with reprimanding children. Teens, adults he could handle. But kids just shrugged it off half the time. He sighed and finished up.   
  
He felt that the punishment was rather too harsh, but he was just so tired of them breaking the rules. Maybe him actually making them see that he COULD dole out things resembling punishment might make them think twice.  
  
Faith slouched out of the room, in full rebellion mode. She really couldn't care less about what he had been saying. Sure weapons could be dangerous. Duh. What did he think they were? Weapons were SUPPOSED to be dangerous.  
  
Giles looked after his charge as she slouched out, scuffing her feet on the floor. He didn't think he had gotten through to her, wasn't sure anything could. At times like these he really wished the three young potentials were someone else's responsibility.  
  
Sometimes Giles also wished the three were normal children. No child their age would normally be in the situation he had found his three in. Maybe fighting over toys, throwing tantrums, that was normal 5 - year old behaviour. Sneaking out into a forest to play with dangerous weapons? Only a potential would even THINK about doing that.   
  
No that wasn't actually true. He thought back to himself at around age 7. He had loved to play with weapons as well. As the child of Watchers he was expected to have sufficient training in case he was someday the lucky one to be the slayers Watcher.  
  
Of course vast amounts of time were spent on the study of ancient texts and translation as well. Not to mention the proper use of magick. But the weapons had been his favourites when he was a boy.  
  
How many times he had snuck of to play with the Watchers weapons. And no one had ever known. Well there was no way his charges were ever finding out that titbit of information.  
  
He could just imagine how they'd be if they ever found out that he punished them for things he had gotten away with.   
  
He hoped the children weren't going to make this next month any harder than it was. He could just imagine them cooped up when they would normally be at their weapons training. He just hoped they didn't plan on being too loud. The last thing he needed was the council on his back for not controlling his charges.  
  
Giles sighed at the thought of three 5- year olds with too much energy running around the town. He could see in his minds eye the destruction they could cause if he didn't manage to control them.  
  
He felt like calling the punishment off. But no. He couldn't do that. The children needed to learn. What if someday one of them was the Chosen One? If she was undisciplined it would be easy for her to get hurt. Or worse, die.   
  
He shuddered at that thought. Well if he had anything to do with it that would never happen. He would always be here for Buffy, Kendra and Faith. In the good times, and the bad. He would always look out for them.   
  
The may have misbehaved at times, but he didn't care. They were his charges. He was the only family they had, they the only he had. He would always be there for his little Slayers.  
  
Authors note: Well what do you think? I've been wanting to put the last bit in since the first chapter, but it never fit. I felt I needed a bit more Giles in the fic. We don't see him enough in the show. Sorry the chap is a little short. Anyway please review. I'll try to post again soon. 


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: They're Joss's, not mine. They SHOULD be mine tho, if they were the show wouldn't be ending :(  
  
Authors note: As you might get from the disclaimer I'm PISSED OFF about the show ending. It sux. And it's just getting good, with the potentials, and Giles back etc. And sorry bout the time it took me to post this. I am SO busy at the moment  
  
CHAPTER 10 Oz paced around the small cage he was imprisoned in. He HATED having to be locked up every month. He wished he could control his werewolf instincts more easily.  
  
Hey, he may only be a small werewolf, but even at his size he could overpower a small adult human. He knew Wes was right to cage him in his 'wolf phase, but still there was absolutely NOTHING to do, well other than think about what he'd LIKE to be doing. And top of that list? Ripping Wesley's guts out.  
  
Wes had been totally unfair about the weapons in the forest thing. Oz was not allowed out of their house for 2 whole WEEKS. His sentence had only been going for three days, and already Oz was bored out of his wits. Plus Oz was now Daniel again to Wesley.   
  
The young watcher had finally given in to his constantly repeating the fact that he was OZ, not Daniel, and that he considered Daniel to be an unsuitable name for a werewolf. But NOW? Now it was Daniel.   
  
And it SO wasn't fair. He hadn't really been DOING anything for God's sakes. He had been dragged into it by Faith and co. They were just so convincing, they had told him that it was perfectly safe, no one EVER came into the forest.  
  
He relented. Well it wasn't really their fault that they had chosen the one time someone WAS in the forest. They couldn't have known that Giles was going to be giving Willow a magick lesson in there.  
  
He heard a small, slightly nervous whisper from the far side of the room, "Hi Oz" Willow said, coming towards him. She quite often came to visit him at the full moons, when she couldn't sleep. She seemed to calm the wolf in him. Wesley had reluctantly agreed to her visiting, once he had found out that he was so much more relaxed when she was around.  
  
The small red headed witch watched as Oz stalked around his cage. He was so CUTE as a wolfie. She felt like going to him and giving him a big cuddle. He looked so soft and cuddly. But she had learned that doing that WAS NOT a good idea the hard way.   
  
The fist time she had seen him like this she had tried to stroke him through the bars. He had snarled, and leaped at her, reaching out through the bars, trying to swipe her with his claws. She had screamed and retreated in fright.   
  
He had managed to scratch her, and it HURT. After that, she made sure to keep a safe distance.   
  
She had noticed that having her here made Oz more docile, especially when she read to him. Now she nearly always brought a book when she came to visit him. Today it was Beauty and the Beast, one of her favourite fairy tales.   
  
She especially likes the pictures. The Belle in her picture book had red hair, like hers, and she thought that the Beast looked just a bit like Oz in his 'wolf form.  
  
Oz seemed to like it too. She had decided it was his favourite too, at least when he was wolfy Oz. When he was a boy he said it was a sissy book.  
  
She curled up in the big armchair in the room and began to read. When she was about half way through she looked up and saw that Oz was lying on the floor of his cage, looking perfectly contented.   
  
She smiled to herself and continued reading. She was getting dozy, and her voice started to droop. No. She WASN'T going to fall asleep, she was going to finish the story for Oz.   
  
She reached the last page. "and they lived happily ever after" she mumbled, and promptly fell asleep where she was.  
  
The next morning Wesley walked in to check that his charge was ok after his monthly ordeal. What he saw made him smile. Oz was curled up on the floor of his cage fast asleep, and Willow in the armchair, with the book still open on the last page.   
  
He gently took the book from Willow, and placed it on the nearby table, then he walked out to let the two sleep.   
  
Authors note: Short, but I couldn't think of how to make it much longer. Please review. I'm gonna try and post again soon, but life is hectic. 


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Characters aren't mine, they're Joss's  
  
Authors note: So much for a quick update huh? Been busy. Several band things in one week. Oh well. Enjoy.   
  
CHAPTER 11  
  
Wesley looked around himself in horror, and nearly gasped at the sight that met his eyes. There was mess everywhere. How could 5 small children make such a lot of mess?  
  
Giles had been taken down with a bad case of the flu. At the moment he was bed bound, which understandably made it rather difficult to look after his 4 wards. So the task had fallen to Wesley.  
  
Where had the mess before him come from? Well Wes had to accept responsibility for that. He had racked his brains for a "safe" activity, and finally come up with one that he thought even the young potentials couldn't get into trouble with. Baking.  
  
In hindsight he should have known better. Those children could turn anything into mischief. But he had had visions in his head of baking cookies, the children giggling happily with flour all over their little hands. That was how it always was on TV.  
  
All had been going well. The children had been having fun, looking like they had in his imagination. It had been almost peaceful, well compared to normal. The potentials, witch and werewolf were having fun in the kitchen, like any normal 5- year olds.  
  
He should have realised it couldn't last without him present. He had had to rush off to the monthly Watchers meeting, which he had only remembered about at the last minute. There was no way he could take the children with him, but no one else to supervise. It was either leave them or disturb Giles' rest, which could prolong his sickness. Wes sure didn't want that, he could only stand the kids for so long.   
  
So he had decided to take the risk, and leave the children there alone. After all, they had finished with knives and such, and they weren't stupid enough to stick their hands in the oven or anything. Besides, if anything happened while he was gone Giles was only a few rooms away. They would be fine. What could go wrong in an hour or so?  
  
Something. That was for sure. He had arrived back a short while ago to find the kitchen in this mess, and no children in sight.   
  
He sighed. Well there was no way he was cleaning it up. The messy little things could clean up after themselves. Although that meant he had to find them. And doing so quickly wouldn't be a bad idea. Who knew what else they had been up to without any supervision.   
  
Where was a likely place? Where would he have gone as a small child? Well probably the library. But he somehow doubted that the ones he was looking for were there. Apart from Willow, they weren't all that fond of books, even though they did know how to read them.  
  
The park? He didn't think so, but at least it was a start. You never know, they might have been in a mood for playing. He headed off for the nearby park. As he had suspected there was no sign of the 5. But he had a sneaking suspicion that they may have been there in the not too distant past.  
  
There was a young boy, one of the magick students in the village if he wasn't mistaken, sitting on a nearby bench in obvious pain. He was clutching his nose, which looked as if it had recently met with someone's fist, causing it to bleed profusely.   
  
This looked rather like Faith's handiwork. She tended to be unhappy with anyone who dared pick on her, and this particular boy was a known bully around the town.  
  
A quick questioning of the boy confirmed his suspicion. Yes, he had been teasing a little girl, yes he had been punched in the face by a crazy dark haired little girl. And yes, there had been two other girls and a little boy with her.  
  
Wesley advised the boy to go to the infirmary, to have his nose checked out. Faith's last victim had needed stitches. The child ran off and Wesley looked after him with a sigh.  
  
Faith relied way too much on violence, in his opinion. She was going to kill someone someday if she didn't learn when and when not to attack.   
  
Well at least he was on the right track to finding the children. He had to grin wryly. Follow the trail of injuries and destruction. That sounded about right, especially if Faith, or one of the others was in a bad mood.   
  
Wes wandered around Traverston for nearly an hour. But to no avail. Where were those children? Well, he couldn't be bothered looking any more. They would have to come back to the house sooner or later. And then they were going to clean up that mess.   
  
He headed home, still checking, just in case he happened to run into the bunch of them. But he didn't. He shook his head at the thought of where they must be. He had looked everywhere.  
  
When he got back to the house he almost fainted in shock. The kitchen was clean again. Probably even cleaner than it had been before the baking session had started.   
  
He walked through to the living room and was greeted with the sight of the children he had been running all around town looking for sitting there, eating what was obviously the cookies they had made.  
  
"Hi Wesley" Oz said, "You wanna cookie?" Wes smiled down at the child. He really could be quite sweet when he was in the mood. A thought hit him. And he didn't like what it meant.   
  
The children had been responsible for a change, and had obviously just gone off for a while, probably meaning to play and then clean up.  
  
He realised he should probably widen his opinion of the kids before he decided their characters. Obviously, just because he thought that the children could never behave themselves fully for a whole day didn't mean they couldn't.  
  
He accepted the cookie and joined the children on the floor. Maybe Giles being sick wasn't such a bad thing. He really should get to know the children better, since he lived in the same house as them, and no doubt would for quite a time.  
  
Authors note: Yay! Wes is de- stuffying (I don't think that's a word, but it is now). Anyway. I think I might bring another character soon. Please review, and I mean it this time when I say I will try to post at leat once in the next week.  
  
Oh yeah you might have noticed I had this chap up, removed it and replaced it. People pointed out inconsistencies, and I though I should change them. 


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: Joss's characters, not mine  
  
Authors note: I suspect some of you may not like my take on Xander's family. Sorry, but I thought I needed a difference from the others, and this is what came into my head.   
  
CHAPTER 12 Xander looked around himself at Traverston, his new home. He was to live here with some distant relative of his. Wesley Wyndham- Pryce was his name, according to the man, who had met Xander at the airport this morning.  
  
Xander's mother had died when he was just a baby, leaving him with just his dad. Then, three weeks ago, his dad had just disappeared into thin air one day. Xander wasn't entirely sure what had happened to him, everyone seemed to avoid the subject. He figured it was probably just one of those things that always seemed to happen around his hometown.  
  
The people who had come to see him after his dad's going away had told him that he was going to go and live with a relative in England. They had assured him that he was going to be staying with a very nice man, who was his mothers 3rd cousin, or something along those lines.  
  
That was the closest relation who was willing to take charge of a 5 -year old boy. So Xander had been uprooted from his home in Sunnydale, America, and shipped off to this little town in England. It had all happened so fast that Xander was still confused about any details of the matter.  
  
Xander didn't know what to think. Wesley seemed like an OK person to him, even if he was an adult, and a little stuffy. But he hadn't seen any kids around, or at least none younger that about ten. And all the ones he had seen had been girls.   
  
Xander had nothing against girls, but he didn't want to be the only boy around. Who would he play boy games with? But just girls was better than no children at all.  
  
Xander liked to have people around him. He loved to make people laugh. How could he do that if there were no kids there? Adults didn't usually like his jokes and things.   
  
Xander's dad had been one of the exceptions. He had called Xander his "little comedian' and said that Xander was the funniest little guy he knew. Xander had liked that, but had liked making the children at his pre-school laugh more. They were his age, and understood him better.  
  
Xander dropped into loneliness for a moment. He really did miss his dad. It had been just the two of them for as long as he could remember. But now he was gone. Xander may not have known what exactly had happened to his dad, but he was fairly sure he wasn't coming back.   
  
Wesley looked down at the small boy walking beside him. The child looked sad. But obviously that was to be expected, after losing his father, then being carted off to a strange place. Wesley felt sorry for the child. It must have been a hard few weeks for him.  
  
Wes hoped he had done the right thing by agreeing to look after the child. It was another child to look after, which meant more work, but the child was a part of his relatives, albeit rather distant.   
  
Wes hadn't even known that the child existed, until he had been contacted two weeks ago. He still wasn't entirely sure how the people had managed to find his name and contact him. But they had told him that he was their last hope. That if he didn't take the child he would either end up in an orphanage somewhere, or being passed from foster family to foster family.  
  
Wes had decided that surely one more child couldn't cause too much extra trouble. And anyway, family was family.  
  
So the boy had been put on a plane, and Wesley had gone to meet him at the airport this morning.   
  
The other 5 children had been told that a relative of Wesley's was coming to live with them. They had reacted happily at the prospect of receiving a new friend for them to play with.  
  
Oz had been happy to learn that he was to have some male company. The girls had been getting rather pushy lately, and he hoped another boy would help even the playing field somewhat.  
  
Faith looked out the window, hoping to be the first to catch a glimpse of their new housemate, and hopefully, friend. He sounded interesting. She liked having boys to play with, but Oz was kinda boring at times. He was a bit too serious for her taste, and kinda quiet. She liked guys who were loud, and could make her laugh.   
  
She liked it when people made her laugh. It hadn't happened all that much before she had come to Traverston, and though all her friends here were fun, none of them really liked jokes and stuff.   
  
And she hoped he had brown hair, like hers. Faith liked dark haired guys, like she figured her dad would have been, 'cept she never actually met him. She had always wanted a brother too, one with hair like hers. Guys were fun to play with, when you weren't in the mood for being 'round girls. And she already felt kinda connected to this new guy for some reason, even though she didn't know why that could be.  
  
Xander was feeling a little more cheerful now, since a couple of minutes ago, Wesley had told him whom he was going to be living with. Four girls his age, and, what he was most happy about, a guy. The boy was 6 apparently, but hey, 6 isn't far from 5. Oh, plus Wesley and some other guy called Giles. But he wasn't really bothered about the adults. Kids were what he cared about.   
  
He hoped they were nice, and hey, maybe if he was lucky one of them might like his style of jokes and such. He hoped none of them were like a girl at his pre-school in Sunnydale. She was so mean to him, but most of the kids seemed to like her. Plus she laughed at his name. Which wasn't fair, considering hers was Cordelia. That was way, way sillier than Xander any day.  
  
Well he wouldn't have to wait long to find out. Wesley had said that they were only about 5 minutes away from the house.   
  
Even as he was thinking that Wesley pointed to a pleasant looking house and told him that that was the one.   
  
Xander could see a little dark haired girl sitting in the window, obviously looking for something. On an impulse he lifted his arm and waved at the girl.   
  
Faith was slightly surprised. The boy had waved. That was a good sign. It probably meant he wanted to be friendly. She waved back to him, then ran off through the house to find the others, who were also waiting in anticipation of meeting the new boy.  
  
Once Xander saw the girl run off, apprehension started to creep over him again. What if they didn't like him? What if they thought he was dumb? Well, there wasn't exactly a lot he could do about their opinions, he realised, but he just hoped they wouldn't be mean if they didn't like him. He could live with being ignored, but teasing, he really didn't like teasing.  
  
There was a small gang waiting outside the house, wanting to meet the new guy. Giles had to smile at the looks on the children's faces. They looked so excited. Especially Oz, whom Giles suspected had been feeling rather out numbered ever since he had arrived.  
  
Xander looked at the kids standing out the front of the house, and his apprehension melted away. They all looked happy to see him and Wes. Excited to meet the new child, who, Xander hoped, was soon to become one of them.  
  
When Xander reached the house he was instantly enveloped in a swarm of kids. He was led away happily to get to know all of them and his new home.  
  
Authors Note: Like? Dislike? It's a fairly quick update, and a slightly longer chapter. So I'm happy. Anyway, please review this. 


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: Characters are Joss' not mine.  
  
Authors note: OK, back to the slow update from me again. Make that VERY Schoolwork. Report time, therefore heaps of tests and assignments. Sorry ppls, I'm kinda swamped. Anyway it's the holidays in a few weeks, so hopefully I'll get at least 3 or 4 chaps up then, hopefully more. I'm hoping this is about the slowest update I'm gonna have.   
  
CHAPTER 13 "Nuhn unh" Xander said firmly. "I don't believe you. There's no such thing as vampires. "  
  
The others shared a look. They knew better. Vampires did so exist. There was one that lived not half an hour from their house.  
  
But Xander didn't know that yet. He hadn't yet had the pleasure of meeting the souled vampire.  
  
Xander was confused. Why were the others saying this? Everyone knew vampires didn't exist. They were just scary stories. Was it some game he didn't know about? If it was they shoulda explained about it before they started. Maybe they'd thought he would already know. Maybe it was something everyone did here in England. He wouldn't know. Things were so different back home in Sunnydale.  
  
He decided to call their bluff. "OK then, if vampires exist, prove it," he demanded. There. Now they would have to either explain the game, or back off if they were just teasing him. Or option number three could come into play. He might be going to meet a real live vampire.  
  
Well, sorta, anyway. Xander knew enough about vamps to know they weren't really alive. But if they were real, then maybe the part about them not being alive was wrong too.  
  
Faith grinned, and led the way towards Angel's quarters. This was gonna be fun. Especially if Angel could be persuaded to go full vamp mode.  
  
But that was rather improbable. Angel probably wouldn't want to scare Xander, or not too much anyway. The best they were likely to get was a quick flash of vamp face. If they were lucky.  
  
Faith tried to figure out how they could be sure that Angel would put on the show for Xander. Maybe if one of them got there before the others and wore him down? That would probably work. He never could resist them for long. Buffy would probably do it the best. For some reason the vamp seemed to have an even softer spot for her that he did the others.  
  
Faith slowed her pace and waited for Buffy to come alongside her. She whispered her idea in the other potential's ear. Buffy grinned and ran off ahead. This was sure to be easy. Angel could hardly ever resist when she asked him something.  
  
Xander looked after Buffy in puzzlement. She and Faith were up to something. They always were. And he normally didn't like it when whatever they were planning happened. This obviously had something to do with the so-called "vampire" they were going to see. But it beat him as to what it could be.   
  
"Please, please, please Angel" Buffy pleaded, putting on her cutest look. He wasn't budging easily today. He was in a bad mood over something. But she wasn't going to give up without a fight.   
  
Angle frowned down at the child who was pouting up at him with the most adorable look on her face. He really wasn't in the mood for playing today. But really he didn't have a lot of choice in the matter. He knew Buffy and co too well. They would just keep up the cute pleading act until they got their way. They always did. He decided it was just easier to relent.   
  
"OK, I'll put on my 'vampire act' as you call it for your friend. Happy?" He asked. He knew he sounded grumpy, but didn't really care. He was surprised when the small child put her arms around his waist-, which was about as high as she could reach- and hugged him.   
  
That child. How could she be so sweet one day, then a little terror the next? Well, getting her own way probably helped her mood quite a bit. Maybe he should hold out a bit longer before he indulged her next time. She was cute when she was being sweet.   
  
Faith walked at a leisurely pace, slow to her really. She'd rather be moving a lot faster than this, but the walk to Angel's place was only about 10 minutes if she went fast and she wanted Buffy to have all the time possible to persuade Angel to go vampy.   
  
Kendra watched Faith, wondering why she was moving so slowly. Faith was normally all for rushing. Especially into trouble. And why had Buffy run off before? The others had been kinda ignoring her lately. She had liked it better when it had just been the three of them. Now it was getting crowded, and there were more kids around.  
  
Kendra was really more of a solitary person. Just her, Faith and Buffy had suited her just fine. But it seemed strange having kids around who were not potentials. The past few years they were basically the only people she had been around. Potential's and members of the watchers council.  
  
Now there were new people around, and this new boy, Xander didn't even know that vampires existed. Even Willow and Oz had known that much.   
  
She didn't much like Xander. He unsettled her. Most of the others were serious about things, but he was always joking. Faith wasn't always fully dedicated, but she at least understood the importance of seriousness, at least when it really counted.  
  
At times she found herself wishing that things could just go back to how they were a few months ago, before Willow had arrived. Before the boys had arrived. Back to when she, Buffy and Faith were the best friends, and no one else had interfered in that friendship.  
  
Ever since Willow had come, and Buffy had become friends with her there was less room in the friendship. Or at least it felt like there was. It wasn't as if the others were mean to her or anything, she just felt like they didn't see her anymore, like she didn't matter so much.   
  
But it wasn't so bad. She had more time to concentrate on her lessons now that she had slipped to the edge of the group more. She was sure she was getting better. And even though beating Angel hadn't happened again, it was obvious he had to work harder now. And he had started to give her one on one lessons as well.   
  
Angel. Now she realised why Buffy had run off. The vampire was probably gonna need some persuading to scare Xander. He would go along with the plan of Faith's to prove that vamps were real, but Kendra doubted he'd do it without putting up at least some resistance.   
  
And obviously neither Willow or Oz had been told why Buffy had run off. Faith hadn't gone near either of them. Maybe the others weren't excluding her on purpose. They just didn't think all the time, maybe didn't figure that she'd want to know.   
  
And maybe she had been excluding them too. But they seemed so happy to just accept the others into the midst of their solid little group. She decided to give it thought later. Thinking was something she was good at recently. She seemed to be doing it a lot.  
  
Faith sighed. She hoped Buffy had persuaded Angel by now. His quarters were looming up on them. If Buffy couldn't win Angel over in a quarter of an hour she was definitely losing her touch.   
  
"Here they are" Buffy exclaimed. "Get ready Angel, but don't forget I gotta introduce you before you turn vampy" She was gonna enjoy this. It would be funny to see the look on Xander's face when he saw Angel morph.   
  
Xander was pushed into the small dark room by Faith. He had got a bit nervous when she had told him that that was where the vampire lived. It looked like the places in horror movies where victims were caught. When he had expressed that Faith had just looked at him scornfully and shoved him in ahead of her, making sure to let as little sunlight in as possible.  
  
He looked around himself. This place really wasn't so bad. Yeah it was dark in here, and a little dingy, but it wasn't really that scary once you were inside. And he didn't see any signs of a vampire.  
  
The only people in here were him and the other kids, plus the guy that Buffy was talking to. But there was no way he could be a vampire. He didn't look creepy or anything. And from where Xander was standing, he couldn't see any fangs.  
  
Obviously the guys had just been playing some kinda trick on him. Maybe it was a test that he had to pass before they would fully accept him. Yeah, that was probably it.   
  
Faith poked him on the arm to get his attention. Obviously he had totally zoned out when he was thinking.   
  
"Xander. This is Angel," She announced.   
  
Xander practically burst out laughing. "Angel? I thought he was supposed to be a vampire," he said.  
  
Angel scowled over at the boy. He decided that he was going to enjoy this. Okay, the making fun of his name wasn't a new thing, but it still annoyed him sometimes.  
  
"Is this more to your liking?" he growled, morphing to his vamp face and growling, showing off his fangs.  
  
Xander let out a squeak of fright. Okay, he'd been wrong, obviously vampires did exist. And this one seemed to be a little mad at him.  
  
"Yes thanks, Mr Vampire," he said in a small voice "Sorry I made fun of your name" he added.  
  
After he had apologised the vampire's features slid back into a perfectly human looking face. "That's okay" Angel said with a smile.   
  
Xander couldn't take his eyes of the man, no, he corrected himself, vampire. He sure wasn't gonna make that mistake again. He was going to believe his friends next time they told him someone wasn't human.  
  
Faith grinned smugly at the boy, who was clearly still a little shaken. "Told you vampires existed," she said sweetly.  
  
Authors note: whew. Wasn't expecting it to be that long. I think that's the longest chapter yet (yes, yes, I know its short by many peoples standards, but not by mine) Please review. I don't think I'm that bust this week, so hopefully I'll get at least another chapter posted. 


	14. CHapter 14

Disclaimer: Characters off BtVS and Angel belong to Joss Whedon.  
  
Authors note: Hi, slow update again. Can't really help it. My computers stuffed. Word isn't working too well, obviously making it a little hard to type up my chapters. I think it's ok now. I cant say my update will be fast next cos whenever I do they just get slower. But it's the school holidays again soon so as long as I can think of stuff to write about I should have more time to update.  
  
CHAPTER 14 Buffy poked her head around the corner of Angel's quarters. She looked around for the souled vamp, who had promised her that she could have a one-on-one with him.  
  
Once Buffy had cottoned on to Kendra's lessons she had decided that she wanted to try him out for herself. Angel had first stalled her, not wanting to have to deal with two of the young potentials in a short space of time. He was afraid that Buffy was not up to the same standard as Kendra, since the Jamaican was much more dedicated to the fighting as far as he could tell.  
  
But Giles had later urged him to give the tiny blond a try. She had been getting rather cocky, and Giles had decided that being beaten by a vampire was just the thing she needed to get her mind away from thinking that she could beat anyone.  
  
While it was true that she could beat several of the older potentials she had not yet been tested on a vampire or demon, both of which would obviously have the added power of their species behind them. The potentials may have been faster and stronger than ordinary humans, but they had nothing like the strength of a vampire.   
  
No human did. Excepting the Slayer of course. And she wasn't exactly on hand to give lessons to Potentials.   
  
So Angel had reluctantly agreed to take on Buffy at least once. He figured that he could always refuse to continue after this match. If she lost, well that meant she needed to practice more on her skills. But if she won, well who knew.   
  
Obviously Buffy didn't know this. She had just figured that Angel had given in to her, as he usually tended to do. She was jubilant of her success and felt like bragging to everyone. So she had.   
  
And had ended up disappointed with the result. No one really seemed to care. Kendra hadn't been happy to discover her position as Angel's prize student could be usurped of course, but most of the others had been indifferent.   
  
Except for Xander. But then again, any time anyone said anything about the training the Potentials went through his eyes had grown wide in amazement.  
  
But Buffy didn't really care about him. He was just a normal boy. She wanted someone who could really challenge her. Xander couldn't do that. In fact, at times the boy was so uncoordinated he just fell over his own feet.   
  
And Kendra, Faith and she were now so evenly matched that it was rare that any of them could get one up over another. So that was generally boring as well.  
  
But Angel. Angel posed a challenge. He had the full strength of a vampire, making him stronger than her. Plus he had the experience to give her the type of battle she craved.   
  
Buffy knew that she was small, but also that she was really strong. And a better fighter than most of the other Potentials. To be honest, she had to admit, she hadn't had a really good fight in awhile.   
  
Giles lurked in the upper wings of Angel's quarters, watching his young charge enter. She looked so small, but hardly defenceless. The child had really been getting rather frustrating lately. She was forever bragging about how well she had done in this class or another. He was quite frankly sick of it.  
  
Her main advantage was her age. It was well known that younger children adsorbed new things much quicker. The older Potentials had to unlearn many things before their style could improve, but his charges did not.   
  
They were, to put it metaphorically, blank canvases. Ready to be painted or drawn upon. There were no bad habits to remove, no previous experiences to mar the learning of the new things they were taught.  
  
However, that did not mean that bad habits could not be learned. Everyone had flaws. He just wished that Buffy would realise that she did. Instead she was starting to think she was invincible, above everyone else. That was not a good trait to be in the character of a Slayer, or even a Potential one.   
  
If a Chosen One did not realise her mortality, she would most likely lose her life all the more quickly.   
  
Giles hated to think of his young charges as the Slayer they could someday become, but he knew it was a real possibility that at least one of the three would be Called sometime in the next decade or so.   
  
It saddened him in his heart to think of it. But it was necessary. All he could do was pray that they were not Called, and prepare them in all fields in case that day did eventually come.   
  
And that meant getting Buffy to realise she was not unbeatable. He hated to do this to the girl who was, after all only five, but a Potential could not enjoy the childhood that many children would take for granted.   
  
She could not get big -headed, and would always have to realise her flaws, to recognise them, so she could hopefully overcome them. So although he hated setting the child up for what would probably be, to her, a humiliating defeat, he knew he had to.   
  
Buffy looked around her. Where was Angel? She couldn't see him. She would have expected him to be waiting for her, ready to start. He couldn't have forgotten surely?  
  
A slight noise came from the corner, like the movement of a coat, rustling slightly with its' wearers movement. She stood her guard, getting ready to fly at whatever came out of the shadows.   
  
Angel grinned wryly from his hiding place. Most wouldn't have heard the slight noise his long duster made when he moved. He had to admit the child had sharp ears. However, that was not going to help her much. It might help her figure out his location, but when he attacked was when the real test of her skills would begin.  
  
Buffy shifted nervously. What was Angel up to? Why didn't he appear already?   
  
She had the sense to keep moving on her feet, never standing still, that way if he suddenly jumped out from somewhere she would have a better chance of evading his attack than if she had to go from flat standing.   
  
Giles smiled down at the child. He couldn't help it. She looked so cute when she was readying for an attack. Of course she didn't mean to, but her small stature just made her look like she was copying something she'd seen on TV or something.   
  
Obviously she wasn't though. The child really was very well trained in several fields and was improving. Her fighting stance was real, not copied off some show or other. Anyway, the Potentials didn't get to watch television very much. The council disapproved.   
  
But since Wesley's charges and the remainder of his were allowed to watch the TV that Giles owned Buffy, Kendra and Faith did have access to it much more frequently than other Potentials.   
  
Giles liked it that way. He didn't see why his three should not be allowed to take part in some normal childhood activities on top of their training. Of course, this was only as long as said training was not disturbed or neglected due to recreational activities.   
  
But he wasn't here to decide the merits of television, or to think how adorable his small charge was. He was here to observe this young Potential in a battle situation.   
  
The council had asked him to assist in the rating of the three Potential's skills, so on top of this being a lesson he believed Buffy sorely needed, he would also be observing how well she could fight.   
  
He partially wished that the council had chosen another person. He did not want his personal feelings to make him go easy on the child, or alternatively, to go hard on her, in fear of going easy on her.   
  
But he had to do this, and so he would. It was part of his duty as a member of the Council. He had done it before, for many other potentials and trainers in the years past. This was no different.  
  
But it also went the other way now that he had charges of his own. He in turn would be being assessed in his care of the children. And of course his training of Faith in hand to hand, since none of the instructors had yet agreed to re- assume training her, still being scared at the amount of strength the small girl had.   
  
No. He was not going to think about that now. He was going to keep his mind on the task at hand. He was going to do his job, grade his subject and then go and write the report he had to do. Then, sometime soon he would be doing it all again for Kendra.   
  
Buffy was getting impatient. Couldn't Angel hurry up and attack already? Was he doing this to make her take her guard down? Well if he was it wasn't going to work. She wasn't that stupid. He should know that.   
  
Angel smiled slyly. The child was getting nervous now, trying to anticipate his attack. That was exactly what he wanted her to do. Whatever she anticipated, well it wasn't very likely to be right. In fact, if he were doing this right she should be thinking he was doing exactly the opposite of what he really was.   
  
He darted around the shadowy edges of the room again and then, getting behind Buffy, leaped out into the middle. Buffy span around and lashed out with a spin kick.   
  
Angel grinned at her. "Hi there Buffy" he said "expecting that were you?" Of course she had been. She was supposed to.   
  
Buffy grinned right back at him. "Of course I was silly. You wanted me to" God. How stupid did he think she was? It was so obvious he was trying to set her up.   
  
Angel winced inwardly. He was doing it again. Why did he keep underestimating these 5- year olds? Well, that would be down to the fact that he was a softy. He knew it and worse, they knew it.  
  
But his soft nature wasn't going to stop him from beating this little Potential. The way she pointed out that she knew what he was up to? That was just plain smug. And Angel didn't much like smug. It annoyed him.   
  
But that was a good thing. Emotions more often helped him than hindered. And annoyance was good. It added fuel to his fighting.   
  
He lashed out towards the girl's middle, hoping to knock the breath out of her and give him more time to attack. He was well aware that he was going easy on the child. He was sure she was too. But she was so small, and looked so fragile. He didn't want to hurt her too badly.   
  
Buffy hurriddley threw herself to the floor to avoid the kick Angel had just aimed at her. Then let her brain work. Darn. She had done what he might have wanted her to.   
  
Angel pounced, pinning the girl to the ground. He knew he had this one won. The girl was very strong for her age, but just too inexperienced. However, he doubted the match was over just yet.  
  
Buffy groaned. She had let him overpower her. Then she looked at how he had pinned her, standing over her chest, and had an idea. She let a small grin escape through her lips and then kicked upwards with all her might. And that was a lot of might.   
  
Angel doubled over and clutched at his 'private area'. Little witch. He may have been a vampire, but that didn't mean that it didn't still hurt when someone did that to you.  
  
Buffy grinned sweetly at him and jumped neatly back to her feet. "Got you" she said, putting as much sugar into that statement as she could.   
  
Angel felt his face shift. OK, now he was mad. He started punching for real, having to aim downwards of course to accomodate for his opponents slight stature.   
  
Buffy parried every blow, feeling a kind of abandon. Now this was fun. Not to mention funny. The look of fury on Angel's face really amused her. She felt like giggling.   
  
So she did. And that was her downfall.   
  
Angel stopped his blows in amazement when Buffy started giggling. What was she doing? A spar was certainly not the place to burst out laughing. A vampire who wanted an opening would have killed her by now if she did that in the middle of a battle.   
  
So he took advantage of it and did the equivalent of killing her. Pinning her to the ground (watching where he stood this time) and leaning down over her neck and touching it very gently with his fangs.   
  
Buffy lay still as the rules of spar required, and started to sulk. It wasn't fair. He had only got her 'cause he had made he laugh. It just wasn't fair.   
  
Then to add insult to injury Angel leant down again and started to tickle her. "So you want to laugh do you" he mock growled and attacked her in this way with a new fury.   
  
Giles looked down at the two in amusement. Buffy had passed the test. Well as long as he left out the bit about her bursting out laughing. But he didn't plan on putting that in the report anyway.   
  
And he suspected she had figured out that she was not as unbeatable as she thought she was. He really hoped so. After all, that had been the main purpose of the exercise. The evaluation had just been an add on.   
  
He watched the two wrestle and tickle for a little longer, then snuck out. Leaving them to their fun. Neither of them had enough time to play. This was good for both of them.   
  
Authors note: And I thought the LAST chap was long. Oh well, you deserve a long chapter considering the length it took me to get it written (damn computer) Anyway, please review. 


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: Characters off BtVS belong to Joss Whedon.  
  
CHAPTER 15  
  
Willow grinned in delight at the little robin fluttering around in front of her. This was so great. She had finally got the spell right. She had been working so hard at it for ages and it had finally paid off. Finally she could change one living thing into another. A few minutes ago that robin had been a butterfly.   
  
Just then she heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps outside the door. She started guiltily and quickly shoved her spell materials into her bag and shooed the transformed butterfly out the open window. Then she opened her book and pretended to read.  
  
Willow wasn't supposed to practice her magick without one of the two adults of the house around. Giles had put the rule in place after one too many magickal mistakes.   
  
But she just loved to practice the magick, loved how the power made her feel. So she did often practice without supervision, even though it went against her usual discomfort of breaking rules. And so far no one had found out, and she hadn't had any serious accidents so she figured she must have been doing the stuff right.  
  
Giles smiled down at his young student, who was stretched out on the floor reading a book. A picture book version of Alice in Wonderland to be exact. That was a bit strange really. He had seen the child reading much more advanced texts than that. Maybe she just enjoyed looking at the pictures sometimes.  
  
He hoped that Willow didn't notice that his smile was a bit forced. Today was the day he had been dreading ever since he had been told of it. The day Willow's magickal evaluation began.   
  
Willow was his first true student in magick, so this evaluation was all the more important. He really hoped that the child performed well. If she didn't he could be judged unfit to teach and Willow could be reassigned to someone they deemed more suitable.   
  
If that happened the child probably wouldn't fare too well. Most teachers would probably not take her young age into account. He knew from experience that treating her like the normal students who were generally twice her age when they started just did not work. Some things did have to be explained more simply, and some spells just were not suitable for a five year old to learn.   
  
And if it went the opposite way and she was given to a teacher who would treat her like the very small child she in truth was, that would not go well either. He suspected if anyone did that to her she might just show them she was not as inexperienced as they thought by showing off with a more powerful spell. Either that or her talents would just go down the drain since she would easily get bored with being taught very simple magick's.  
  
An image of Willow turning one of the more stuffy members of the council into a frog popped into his head, making him smile for real. He could just imagine her doing that, once she managed to master the spell to change living things, which they had been working on recently.  
  
He brushed the thoughts from his mind. Willow was going to do fine. To do well. They would not take her away from him. She would prove he was a good teacher. So he didn't need to think about what would happen if she didn't do well.   
  
"Willow, this is Lia Mariner," he told the child, gesturing to his companion. "She's going to be watching our lessons for a few days"   
  
Willow looked up at the woman. People watching was bad. Even when it was nice seeming people. Whenever anyone other than Giles, Wesley or her friends watched her she got nervous and messed up.  
  
"Does she have to watch?" Willow questioned quietly, already knowing the answer was yes.  
  
Lia smiled down at the little girl. "Don't worry sweetie, I'm just going to sit here quietly. You'll hardly even know I'm here" she assured the child.  
  
Willow didn't believe her about that. Whenever adults said they were going to watch quietly it meant they were really Watching. And that always made her notice their presence all the more.  
  
Giles coughed gently to recapture his student's attention. "OK Willow, lets warm up your brain with the uses of crystals we did last time," he announced.   
  
He wanted to show off Willow's academic aptitude before they moved on to the more hands-on part of the lesson. And it would give the child chance to get used to having Lia watching her. Plus the obvious fact that Willow needed to revise her previous lessons.  
  
Willow couldn't help a small giggle escape. Giles could be so corny at times. 'Warm up your brain' being just one of the classic examples he had used which had caused her to giggle almost every time she thought about it. That type of phrase was just so out of date. In fact had it ever been in date?  
  
She forced her mind away from that topic. She could ponder later. Now she had to concentrate on the crystals.   
  
She sighed. She knew them all fairly well but the recitation of the uses and properties was kinda boring. But at least they would be doing practical later. Giles had promised her that. Lessons which were just theory were boring.   
  
Crystal fired a crystal name at her and, after de- muddling the properties of all the different uses of the different crystals; she fired back the list of its uses and properties.  
  
Giles smiled inwardly. She was getting good at that particular exercise. It wouldn't be much longer until she could do it without any mistakes. At the moment there was still the occasional few, but she was going even better than she had the day before.   
  
Lia raised her eyebrows in surprise. The child was better than she had expected. Or at least had a better memory than she had expected. Lia had begun that particular exercise at 10, and she hadn't been able to complete it with a high degree of accuracy until well over half a year later. And here was a five year old, who couldn't have been working on it for more than a few months, answering most of the properties and uses correctly.   
  
But being able to parrot memorised information didn't make the girl a witch. Nor anywhere near it. Lia was looking forward to seeing the child perform magicks. Giles had been reporting delightedly to the council on how powerful the child was and how fast she was learning.   
  
Lia was rather sceptical about the powerful part. This small, rather shy child just didn't seem of the type to hold a very strong gift. She thought that Giles was probably exaggerating, out of his pride for his student. Or, since he was new to the teaching of magick it was entirely possible that a completely normal but untrained gift seemed powerful to him. Without the correct training wild bursts of power could occur. Willow had probably displayed a few bursts of power and her inexperienced teacher presumed that meant she had strong magick.   
  
Well, she was soon going to find out. She wasn't expecting too much from the child but it would be interesting to see how exaggerated what Giles said was. Or even, just possibly, find out that he hadn't been exaggerating.   
  
She was going to be watching with an open mind, whatever happened. Although unless the girl was much further along in learning than Lia thought the magick was not going to be very interesting. Levitation of very small items, possibly brewing of simple potions. That would be about all the child would have had time to learn, unless moving at a much faster rate than normal for young students.   
  
Giles stopped his crystal naming. It was time they moved on to some more active magick. But what to do?   
  
He decided that going through everything was probably a good idea, the perfect opportunity for him to prove to the council how good Willow actually was at magick. Start with the simple things Willow had known before he started teaching her and work up to the more complex spells they had worked on recently.   
  
Of course it would probably take a couple of days at least to go through everything, but that tied in nicely with the evaluation.   
  
"OK, today we're going to revise everything we've done Willow" he said, really more for the benefit of Lia. "Start at the very beginning and work our way up from there"   
  
Willow grinned. This was actually good. Doing things she had already known for a while meant she was much less likely to get nervous because she was being watched. In fact that was probably why Giles had suggested it. He knew how much she hated people watching.  
  
After pondering for a moment he left the room to get the object that he and Willow normally used for this type of magicks. He wasn't sure if they should use the object with a member of the council, who disapproved of such things, present. But he decided it was better not to change the normal routine, which could cause Willow to get even more nervous than it was obvious she already was.   
  
The object in question was in fact Buffy's stuffed pig. Mr Gordo. And of course the reason he was wondering about using it with a council member present was that toys of any kind were not approved of for Potentials.   
  
But Buffy had had the pig ever since she was very young. Even before Giles had been put in charge of Watching her, slightly after her second birthday. Giles knew she would be distraught if anything happened to the pig, but she had said that they could use him. In fact she had been rather pleased about her pig being exposed to magick.  
  
The situation had come around when he had found Willow entertaining the others by performing small acts of magick on it.   
  
He had noticed that the child had seemed much more at ease using the pig than she had with ordinary materials. When he asked her why she explained that it was because she didn't have to worry about breaking Mr Gordo, or hurting someone with him, unlike the materials they had been using before that.  
  
So he had asked Buffy, she had given her blessing to use the pig, and they had. In fact the toy had been exposed to so much magick that he wouldn't have been surprised if it started flying around on its own. Giving a whole new spin to 'pigs might fly'   
  
Lia raised her eyebrows again when she saw the object that Giles came back into the room with. A stuffed toy. No doubt belonging to one of his charges. Toys were generally not allowed to interfere in the training of the Potentials, but it was possible it was the werewolf or other boys. But she doubted it.  
  
Well she would let it drop. If it was being used for magick maybe it belonged to Willow herself. But anyway the toy wasn't doing any harm.   
  
Willow looked pleased. Good. They were using Mr Gordo. That was always more fun. Plus, unlike the glasses they had used before him, she didn't have to worry about smashing Mr Gordo if she got distracted.   
  
But was it really good to use him in front of a council member? They never liked toys. What if they tried to take Mr Gordo away? Buffy would be really upset. She might even cry. And that would be very bad. Willow had never seen her friend in tears. And she never wanted to. That would mean that something really bad had happened.  
  
Without thinking she set her mind into the right frame and started to levitate the stuffed pig. Before Giles had asked her to.  
  
Giles shot the child a Look and she immediately stopped what she had been doing. Whoops. She wasn't supposed to do things until Giles had told her to. Apparently the council didn't approve of that either. In Giles' words 'they want a race of obedient human robots, they don't want people to think for themselves'.   
  
Of course he hadn't known Willow had been listening. He had been complaining to Wesley, after a council meeting. Willow thought that the council had probably been telling him off for letting them get away with one of their pranks. Which wasn't fair, 'cause he had nothing to do with their pranks and stopped them if he caught them at it.  
  
Which admittedly wasn't often any more. They were getting good at not getting caught.   
  
Giles frowned. The child knew not to start before he had asked her to. Knew that the council expected all students to do things when told/ asked and not before. Why wasn't she thinking?  
  
He shook his head. Now he was getting angry at Willow through his nervousness. He shouldn't take his mood out on the poor child. She was so young, couldn't be expected to remember things all the time.  
  
He nodded slightly, indicating that now she could begin. Willow nodded back and levitated the stuffed pig over to her.   
  
"Good, now animate it" Giles instructed. She followed his instruction and put the toy onto the ground. It ran around on its little stuffed legs until he told her to de- animate it.  
  
Then she changed the pig into a stuffed cow, them into a live pig. And it continued from there with invisibility, colour changing and size changing.  
  
Then Willow displayed invisibility on her self, as well as turning into a squirrel (which she had decided was her favourite transformed state) and into a kitten.   
  
All this time Lia could feel her eyes widening. The child was much more advanced than she had presumed. She had expected the levitation yes, but hadn't expected Willow to be any further than the animation of inanimate objects. That she could already change her own shape was amazing.   
  
But Willow wasn't done yet. She was having fun. And the look on Lia's face was just priceless. It was so funny that she felt like laughing, but controlled herself, knowing that Giles would just shoot her another Look.   
  
She hated his Looks. They were scary, and it meant he was disappointed in whichever one of them was being Looked at. She really didn't like to disappoint him. She liked him to be proud.  
  
Like he was now. Giles was very happy with the way she was going. She was doing, and undoing, everything neatly and efficiently. And she looked like she had got over her nerves and enjoying herself.   
  
But from the look on Lia's face they should probably stop soon, before she fell over from shock. Obviously she had seriously been underestimating Willow's talents.  
  
So he thought they might as well finish with the big finale, which they had been working on for a while. He thought that Willow nearly had it now. Transformation of one living thing into another. A complex spell, yes, but he was sure that Willow was up to performing it now.   
  
And if she messed it up a little it wouldn't even matter. Lia looked like she was starting to believe the child could do anything. A slight mess would just convince her that Willow, while very talented, still needed to be taught to control her gift.   
  
"Willow, go and get a butterfly please" he asked his student. They had a tank over in the corner of the room containing many types of bugs they had caught for this exercise.   
  
She grimaced but did as he asked. No. This wasn't good. She could do the spell now, on her own, but she didn't think she could manage it in front of another person.  
  
But she had to try. She could do this, yes, of course she could. She had manages everything else hadn't she?  
  
"Thank you Willow" Giles thanked her solemnly when she came back and handed him the butterfly. "Now, I want you to turn this into a robin, just like we were practicing yesterday"  
  
Lia looked up again. What? Surely the child couldn't... but yes, from what she had seen today all signs pointed to the fact that the child probably could.   
  
But there was obviously some slight difficulty with this one. The spell didn't seem to be working. She let a small smile escape. Perhaps the child wasn't able to do everything after all. She had started to think that maybe she was.  
  
But just then, the form started to change. Slowly the butterfly grew bigger, changed colour, morphed into a red- breasted robin.  
  
Lia smiled nervously. "Thank you Mr Giles, Willow. I don't think I need to see anything more," she told them. And left the room in somewhat of a hurry.  
  
Giles went over to his student and gave her a hug. He was so proud of the way she had handled herself. She had excelled even more than he had expected. And he told her so.  
  
Willow just beamed up at him. He was happy with her performance so she was too.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Authors note: yay! This chap is even longer. Sorry once again about the wait. I should go back to shorter chapters and more updates really I guess. Please review if you have read this chapter. And thank you to everyone who has reviewed the previous chapters. 


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: Main characters are Joss Whedons etc etc. The minor characters are my creation, but just made up for the purpose of the chapter  
  
Authors note: Sorry again. One word explanation. School.   
  
CHAPTER 16  
  
Giles looked on with pride as Faith battled one of the older Potentials. She was using much of what he had been teaching her, and actually sticking to the rules of Spar, not improvising her own.   
  
He thought that some of the show may have been because she had realised she was being watched. Obviously she knew Giles was there, as he always was, but he suspected that she knew of the silent watcher standing on the platform high above her head.   
  
The Watcher up there, one by the name of Johan Kier, was an old aquaintance of Giles'. He and Johan had began at the council at around the same time, and had worked together occasionly.   
  
If it had been his choice Giles most certainly would not have chosen Johan as the one to evaluate Faith. Johan was one of the most traditional members of the council, one of the Watchers who disapproved of improvisation. In other words someone who would not approve of Faith's individual methods.   
  
But no, the child was performing more or less to the Council standards, which she obviously did know. God knows she should, Giles thought with a sigh, he had been drumming them into her head for months. But this was one of the few times he had actually seen the girl put them into play.  
  
Johan Kier nodded approvingly. He didn't know what the Instructors of hand- to- hand had been talking about. They had told him that the child was wild and fought like a small beast. This child was going through the familiar council approved moves smoothly, holding her own well against her larger opponent.  
  
Either Mr. Giles had done some marvellous work on the child, or the instructors had been exaggerating out of embarrassment because, he had been told, this small child had managed to force several of them into defeat.   
  
He supposed it to be the second. He had prior experience of Rupert Giles. And none of it indicated that the man could reign a wild child under control. If anything contact with Mr. Giles would be more likely to make the child worse.   
  
Johan knew of his fellow Watcher's dark past and did not approve of it at all. In fact he had had severe doubts when all the young children had been assigned to Giles. He had believed that a watcher with such a dark history really should not be the one assigned to look after impressionable youngsters.   
  
Although the whole council knew that he had been really because he was already in charge of the Summers child. They hadn't seen why they should waste separate watchers looking after the young ones when they could just bunch them all together.   
  
Johan had met the Summers girl, just once, a year or so ago. And he had no wish to repeat the experience. It had been soon after the child's parents had died and the girl had been an absolute monster, undisciplined, running around the council headquarters screaming.   
  
That had been when the decision to assign Mr. Giles and the girl to Traverston had been made. Johan had been there that day, as one of the Watcher Representatives from Traverston. He had been disgusted by his fellow Watcher's control of the child.   
  
But this child was perfectly disciplined, or it seemed from what he had seen so far. Perhaps Mr. Giles had learned something since he and Johan had last met.  
  
He turned over to look at Mr. Giles for a moment. The other man had a faint smile on his face, as though finding something slightly amusing about the scene before him.   
  
Giles could not get the small smile of pride and amusement off his face. It really was rather funny when Faith conformed to the council standards. It happened so rarely that it surprised him whenever she did so, and just looked strange compared to her usual anything goes style.   
  
Faith sighed. She was getting a little bored. She wanted to stop being tame and just fight the older kid like she usually did. But she couldn't do that cos there was a watcher up above her. And Watchers didn't like the way she normally fought.   
  
Gemma looked down at the child she was sparring and frowned in confusion. The kid didn't seem to be trying too hard and there wasn't a lot of, feeling coming out of the kid. It was like she was bored or something.   
  
She sped up her blows, determined to make the kid pay attention, fight properly, put herself into the fight, instead of the semi- detached way she was fighting now. The kid sped up accordingly, but just kept looking slightly vacant.   
  
Faith allowed a small smile to escape her lips. Finally this spar was heating up a little. She swept her foot out quickly, catching the older girl's legs and sweeping them out from under her.  
  
Gemma grinned. That was better. That was the first real move the kid had made in this fight. Gemma neatly flipped backwards, landing into a crouch. She straightened up and threw a punch down at the kid's middle.  
  
But she just met air. The child had seen it coming and quickly dodged. Before Gemma had time to counter she was met again with the kid's small foot, this time aimed straight at her kneecaps.   
  
That one she easily dodged, but found that the child had outsmarted her. It had been a real enough blow, but the kid had backed it up with an upwards kick to her chin.   
  
Gemma felt herself flying backwards and sighed. She had lost this match. To a five year old no less. She shrugged slightly. Oh well, the kid deserved the victory. Once she had started for real the kid had proved she was really good for one her size.   
  
Gemma broke her fall neatly, minimising injury the way they were taught. She winced. That small foot sure felt like it had done a bit of damage to her jaw. She got up slowly and walked over to shake the kid's hand.   
  
Johan nodded in approval again. A nicely done spar, all rules conformed to, and skill obviously evident. He slipped out the back before the child saw him. The Potentials were not allowed to know of their evaluations.   
  
Giles walked to the main part of the room, applauding lightly. "Nicely done Girls" he praised. "Thank you for volunteering Gemma, you may go now."   
  
The young girl who had been acting as Faith's opponent smiled and left, waving farewell. Giles smiled after her. She seemed a good fighter. And a good sport too. Most of the Potentials weren't that cheerful after being beaten by one of his young charges.   
  
"So did I do OK?" Faith asked him, a grin firmly on her face. "That Watcher looked happy enough when I looked"   
  
Giles faked a disapproving look, "Now Faith" he started.   
  
"I know, I know," she said. "I'm s'posed to concentrate on just the fight and not my surroundings," she recited.   
  
Giles smiled at her. "Well never mind," he said, "You looked like you were concentrating so that's good enough. But you could at least try it sometime"   
  
She grinned up at him. "Yeah right" she said and ran off.   
  
Authors note: Shorter than it has been, but not that short. Anyway, I'm gonna write up Kendra's evaluation for the next chapter, even if you're getting a bit sick of them. It's not fair to leave her out after all. After that, well who knows. Please review. 


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: Characters off BtVS belong to Joss Whedon, not me.   
  
Authors note: Well I've started writing this just after I posted chapter 16, but I don't know when I'll get it finished.   
  
I got it finished the next day! Isnt that good? I'm happy. It's my birthday. I got a story updated FAST, what more could I want? ~sighs contentedly~   
  
CHAPTER 17 "Kendra, please pay attention" Sam Zabuto said softly, and a little crossly. He couldn't understand it. His young student was normally so attentive, concentrating on every small aspect of her attacks. Today however, her mind seemed to be wandering.   
  
It was one of the worst times she could have chosen for an off day. Today there was a Watcher observing the child's progress. That he had even had to request she pay attention did not bode so well for her results on the evaluation.   
  
He motioned for her to retrieve the practice sword he had just flipped out of her grip. She did so, a slight flush of embarrassment showing on her face.   
  
Kendra walked over and retrieved her weapon. What was wrong with her today? She was trying to concentrate on the lesson but her mind wanted to think about other stuff.   
  
And she could not shake the feeling that there was somebody watching her. But she had glanced around a few times and had not been able to see anyone, although that could have also been because the ring was engulfed in shadow, as Master Zabuto had decided she needed to work more on practicing in situations without much light.   
  
"I am sorry Master Zabuto" Kendra apologised quietly. "I did not mean to lose concentration"   
  
Sam flashed a little smile down at his student. He was glad he had the opportunity to train the child. She had such dedication for such a young child. He just hoped that her inattentiveness was not a sign of her interest waning. The child had too great a potential for him to let it go to waste.   
  
"It's alright, but please concentrate Kendra, you must learn these things," he said, only a little scoldingly.   
  
Kendra nodded solemnly and took up the start position. Master Zabuto and she circled each other, each waiting for an opening. Kendra saw a slight chance and snaked her sword out as fast as she could, hoping to catch him unawares. But it was unsuccessful. She had put too much into the lunge and Master Zabuto took advantage of that, striking her blade with his own and once again sending it clattering across the floor.   
  
"Better" Sam said, nodding his approval. The child was obviously trying to pay attention now. That was a start at least.   
  
Johan Kier watched silently from the edge of the room. This child was also skilled, like the earlier one. Faith was it? But unlike her, this child did not seem to be concentrating fully. In fact her Master had already had to recapture her attention once. This was more what he had expected from a child associated to Rupert Giles.   
  
But the girl did seem to know how to use her weapon well. That was a start. The concentration was an issue though. He watched disapprovingly as the child retrieved her weapon again.   
  
This time Kendra was determined not to let him beat her. She forced her mind to focus only on the fight, blocking out any wayward thoughts trying to squeeze their way in.   
  
Sam almost smiled at the look of pure stubbornness of his student's face. She obviously was not enjoying being defeated and so was now concentrating as hard as she could, and focusing as she was supposed to during a match. Good, perhaps she would do all right after all.   
  
Kendra circled, this time waiting for Master Zabuto to initiate the attack. She almost missed his swipe when it came, so fast it was. She hurriedly threw up her own blade to block his, deflecting a blow that, if done with a sharpened sword, could have taken her head off.   
  
Sam spun around, following his first swipe with a second, lower one. To do this he had to bend slightly, which he knew left his back undefended for a second or so. He expected Kendra to see the opening, and act as he had taught her.   
  
Which she did. And he blocked it easily, as he had been anticipating it. "Remember Kendra" he said, "It is unlikely you will catch your teacher out with a move he has taught you. To beat me you must use initiative of your own."  
  
Kendra swallowed a sigh. She didn't like it when Master Zabuto used the middle of a fight as a lesson. Initiative? What could he mean by that? She was using the moves he had taught her, presuming that was what he had wished. But it was not? Then how was she supposed to react?   
  
She sighted another opening and feinted for it. Surprisingly her Master reacted, covering where she had feinted. Instantly she swung her weapon around out of the feint and upwards, resting it against his jugular vein, in the kill position.   
  
"Yield" she said  
  
Sam smiled. Good. The child had defeated him. He had not expected the feint, although he would never tell her that. Let her believe he had given her a purposeful way of winning, if she chose to take it. Sam tried not to teach his students to depend on feints, mainly concentrated on teaching them to find miniscule openings in their opponents defence. As a result, most of his students did not feint very often.   
  
"I yield" Sam said. He graced his student with a smile and she grinned back at him in return.   
  
Johan gave a slight nod of appreciation. The child had done well after all. That last little bout had showed skill and precision on the child's part. She obviously could use her skills well when she so wished. She had earned a decent marking in his opinion. Perhaps what he had thought to be inattention had in fact been planning. Maybe the child had been concocting a method to defeat her Master with. She deserved the benefit of the doubt anyway. He would write her a good report.   
  
Johan quietly left while the child was stretching out in the next room, pausing for a short discussion with Master Zabuto, who readily accepted his advice.   
  
Kendra was cheerful at supper, happy that she had managed to catch her master out. All the others had stories of their days as well of course, making it a noisy event, as it usually was.   
  
Giles smiled over the table at the group he now though of as his small family. He liked to hear their little tales of what had happened to them, and was immensely proud of them for getting through their evaluations. Even though only Willow knew of said evaluation of course, since the rules were different for magick students.   
  
Suddenly there was a loud rapping at the door. Giles frowned. Why would anyone be visiting them this evening? He had not been informed of any visit. He stood up to answer the door.   
  
Standing on the other side of it was a serious looking Watcher whose name Giles didn't know.   
  
"Rupert Giles?" the watcher asked. At Giles nod he continued. "You are requested to appear at the Council Headquarters in London"   
  
Authors note: Heh, sort of a cliffhanger. Anyway, I hope you guys don't mind the shorter chapters too much. They mean I can update more. But not this fast normally. Hopefully faster than the nearly a month it took for chapter 16 though. Please review, and like I generally say, criticism is welcome and I will try to listen to it. 


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: Characters off BtVS are Joss'  
  
Authors note: Yes I KNOW they're all coming out of character. I swear I'm not doing it on purpose though, it just keeps happening. I think they want to grow up :) It's their fault I tell you! Blame the Characters! Lol. But yeah, I'll try and get them to act their age again, although I'm thinking they need to get a little older.   
  
And Kendra was distracted because she could sense the atmosphere was different to usual, and it was making her a little nervous because she didn't know why exactly. I should remember that even though I know what I mean to be happening you guys don't unless I write it, huh?   
  
Anyway, I'll try keep it interesting, in character, and remember to explain what's going on in future, k?   
  
CHAPTER 18 Giles glared at the door of the Council chambers. He had been stuck out here for more than an hour, and was still mystified as to what the Council could possibly want.   
  
They had ordered him halfway across the country to London, a three hour drive in the car used for Council business, and then hadn't even bothered to give him any explanation why he had been summoned.   
  
But from what he could hear through the door it didn't sound too good. It seemed they were discussing a new teacher needed for a young magick student. And in his mind that could only mean one thing. They were going to take Willow away and assign her another teacher.   
  
Of course they could be talking about some other student, but then why would he have been called here?   
  
He wondered what his young charges were up to back in Traverston. Terrorising poor Wesley probably. He had left the younger Watcher in charge, there being no alternative.   
  
Giles wasn't actually sure if the younger man had the stamina to look after all of the children. He was half expecting to return home and find the poor man stark raving mad, trembling in a corner or something.   
  
A slight squeak alerted him to the opening of the chamber door. And it had come none too soon. If he had been left outside much longer he thought he would have barged through the door.   
  
"Please come in Mr. Giles" Quentin Travers called from inside the room.   
  
Giles strode in and stood at the end of the table, waiting for the senior Watchers to talk. He would have demanded an explanation but he knew from long experience they would not tell him anything until they were good and ready.   
  
"I suppose you are wondering why we have called you here Mr Giles," Travers stated..   
  
Giles just stood there, waiting for the man to continue.   
  
"You see, it has come to our attention that there is a student witch who needs a more advanced instructor," Travers explained. "And we believe that your work in the Rosenberg girl's case makes you the perfect candidate" Giles felt his eyebrows shoot up. What!? Him? He had taught Willow nothing unusual. Everything he had taught her had been standard council issue. Yes he and Willow were moving faster than the average student would, but why would that make him the perfect candidate? He hadn't even had any experience teaching before Willow.   
  
"But why?" He asked, voicing his thoughts, "There must be several experienced instructors who would be more suited than I"   
  
Travers nodded. "Yes, but the council believes you to be the correct Watcher in this case."  
  
"You see" one of the other senior watchers, whose name Giles couldn't recall, continued, "We believe that this child will fit in with the atmosphere you teach and live in. The child in question is the same age as your other student, and we believe it would be more productive for both of them to learn together"   
  
The tone that was said in indicated that no argument would be heeded. It looked like Giles was getting a new charge, and student.   
  
He sighed. "when should I expect the child?"   
  
Travers raised his eyebrows, as if marvelling at Giles' not realising an obvious fact, and answered that question himself. "Why, in a few minutes" he said, peering at the clock on the wall. "We have sent someone to fetch her from her chambers, so she should arrive shortly."   
  
A quiet knock sounded on the door, and a tall Watcher walked in, accompanied by a small brown haired child who looked scared stiff at being there.   
  
"Ah, yes, Miss Maclay, we were just waiting for you" Travers said, motioning the child closer.  
  
"Mr Giles, this is Tara Maclay, Miss Maclay, This is Mr Giles, who we are assigning as your new instructor" The child just stood there looking nervous. Giles smiled over at her. The poor thing was obviously not happy to be here. Where were her parents? Was this another orphan he was to be put in charge of?  
  
Travers nodded in dismissal. "Thank you Mr Giles, that is all. Please take Miss Maclay back to Traverston and get her settled. Her things will be delivered there in the next few days."  
  
The tall Watcher who had accompanied the child bent down to say goodbye. "Be good for Mr Giles Tara. I'll come and see you in a few weeks okay?" he said.  
  
Tara nodded silently. Her father had told her that she wasn't allowed to hug him goodbye in front of the Council. She felt like crying. She didn't want to leave her dad. But she had to. He had told her it was for the best.   
  
She silently walked over to join her new teacher, determined that she wasn't going to let her tears escape.   
  
Giles felt his blood boil. The Council hadn't bothered to give him any details about the child, other than her name. They were just handing the poor child over and expecting him to look after her. And she was in the same boat. No doubt all she knew of him was his name and that he was to teach her. No wonder she was looking so nervous about following him.  
  
He couldn't be bothered objecting. The council would never change.   
  
He ushered the child out of the chambers and led her down to the car. He was determined to learn all he could about the child and to tell her about his other charges as well. He didn't know why exactly but the lack of information from the Council had just made him want to fill in every gap in said information.   
  
But how was he supposed to do that? The child didn't look as if she wanted to volunteer information about herself. In fact she didn't look like she wanted to talk at all.   
  
"So Tara, do you like learning to use your powers?" he asked conversationally. The child nodded, but didn't expand on that.   
  
Tara smiled a little. This guy seemed nice. Way nicer than those men at the council. But Tara didn't like strangers too much. She just wanted to be back home with her Dad.   
  
Tara missed her home. Her Dad had told the council that her magick was getting good. She wished that her Dad hadn't gone and told them, that he'd just kept teaching her like he always had. Then she'd still be at home.   
  
She missed her dad too. But he had said that she had to go and learn. And that it was safer if she could control her powers, that things could get dangerous if she didn't get it trained. Tara didn't get that. Magick was beautiful. How could it be dangerous?   
  
"You live with some kids my age, don't you?" she said, figuring she may as well talk to the man, since her dad had also told her to be good. And some people thought that if you didn't talk you were being rude.   
  
Giles almost jumped at the sound of the little voice coming from the back seat. He had almost started to believe the child couldn't talk, that was how quiet she was.   
  
"Yes, how did you know that?" he asked, puzzled. Perhaps the child had been told some thing about him after all.   
  
"My father said you did. But he didn't know what they were like or anything." Tara told him.  
  
Giles was astonished how the child called her father 'father'. Most five year olds still used 'daddy', or at least 'dad'. Although he was starting to suspect that the tall Watcher who had brought her to the Council Chambers was her father. If that were the case she would sound grown up. He would probably have been grooming her for a life in the Council.   
  
Watcher's children generally matured quicker than usual. It was the life in the Council that did it. Giles had learned that from his own youth.  
  
"Yes, I have several children living with me. Do you know what a Potential is?" he asked, getting dŽjˆ vu. He had asked Willow the very same question the first time he had met her, almost a year ago now.   
  
"Unh huh, my father told me about them" Tara said.   
  
Giles nodded. His suspicion was at least partially correct. Her father was a Watcher.  
  
"Well I have three Potentials who live with us. There is also my other student, another Watcher and two boys." Giles said. He was surprised at how large the group sounded when he said it like that. He hadn't realised just how fast it was growing. A year ago it had just been him and the three Potentials. Six months before that just him and Buffy.  
  
Tara wrinkled her nose. She had to live with boys? Her dad had told her that boys were noisy and dirty and that she should stay away from them until she was really old. From his descriptions boys sounded icky. She wasn't sure she wanted to be friends with any.  
  
Tara hadn't ever had many friends. Her father and she lived a quiet life and didn't interact with other people that much. Only Watchers, and sometimes their kids. Her dad had said that was because Watchers weren't supposed to have friends. And she was going to be a Watcher one day so she didn't need any either.   
  
But she used to have one friend. Willow Rosenberg. Her parents had been Watchers too. Willow and her mum and dad had lived near Tara, and Tara used to go and play there a lot, when her father had let her. Willow knew magick too. But she was better than Tara.  
  
But one day her father had told her that Willow was leaving, 'cause her Parents had been killed. Tara had cried at that. She had liked Mr and Mrs Rosenberg. She really missed Willow.   
  
But maybe the Potentials Giles had said about would be nice. And maybe his student would be too. That would be fun. She hadn't known any other magick students her own age, other than Willow. Maybe this one would be as nice as Willow.   
  
"What're their names?" she asked, curiously. This man was so friendly that she decided she liked talking to him after all. Maybe it would be nice living with him. And her father had promised to visit too.   
  
Giles smiled, happy she was showing some interest. "The Potential's names are Buffy, Faith and Kendra, the boys are Xander and Oz and my student is called Willow" he told her.   
  
Suddenly everything went quiet in the back seat. Thinking that Tara had just clammed up again Giles waited for a few minutes. Then he started wondering if something he'd said had upset her so turned around to check.  
  
She looked OK to him. She was sitting there with a grin on her face, looking much happier than she had been the rest of the journey.   
  
"What're you grinning at?" Giles asked, his curiosity sparked. The look on her face was so different from the small smiles she had given before.   
  
Tara couldn't believe it. Could it really be the same Willow? It had to be, surely. How many 5- year old girls with magick could there be in the country? It wasn't exactly a common name.   
  
She realised Giles had said something, and she hadn't heard it. "What'd you say?" she asked.  
  
Giles looked amused. "I asked what you were grinning about" he repeated.   
  
"Well, you know your student, Willow? Is her last name Rosenberg??" Tara asked, still excited. She was going to see Willow again. She was sure of it. This was gonna be so cool!  
  
Giles nodded, and Tara could see the puzzled look on his face in the rear view mirror.   
  
"I used to know her before" Tara explained. "She was my best friend."   
  
Giles' look became surprised. That was something he hadn't expected. Willow had mentioned a friend she had had before her parents died, a fellow witch. But she had never mentioned her name as far as Giles could remember.   
  
"Well, that's quite a coincidence isn't it?" he said. Or was it? Surely the council had to have known. But if they had, why had they placed Tara with him? Giles had never known the council to like anyone in their ranks having friendships. It was openly discouraged with Potentials, Watchers, and of course Slayers. So why should it be any different for Watcher's kids?   
  
He realised that perhaps Tara's father had had a hand in this. That was a possibility. He wouldn't have wanted his child to go and live with complete strangers surely?   
  
Tara suddenly became more talkative, telling Giles about how she and Willow had played together, and asking Giles a heap of things about how her friend was now.   
  
Giles told her some of the recent escapades Willow and her friends had been up to, causing Tara to giggle. But she was secretly surprised when he told her these things. Willow had always been really shy when Tara had known her, and would never have dreamed of doing the things that Giles was saying.   
  
She hoped that Willow still wanted to be friends. And that Willow's new friends would be her friends too. Friends were good.  
  
Giles was surprised how soon they reached Traverston, once they had started talking the trip seemed to speed by.   
  
He looked into the back seat. Tara was sitting there looking out at the buildings that surrounded them.   
  
"Is this where you live?" she asked, it seemed so nice. She and her dad had lived in a flat. Here it was really spread out, and there were lots of gardens and everything.   
  
"Well, not quite here" Giles said, amused at her wonder, "But not far. Welcome to Traverston"   
  
Authors note: What do you think? Better? Tara sound somewhere around 5? I think I need to get more fluffy, concentrate on them acting like little kids, rather than on what training they're getting. Agree, disagree? Anyway, please review and tell me what you think, and thanks to everyone who's given me advice or reviewed already. 


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: Oh, check out one of the other chapters if you want one, I'm sick of writing it out.  
  
Authors note: Ok, here I go again with a long A.N. ~ I'm glad Tara sounds like a five year old, I wanted her to, so I succeeded, yay! ~ NO, this is NOT going to be Willow/Tara, there are no real shippers in this, at least not unless I continue this thing 'til they're like 15. And even then, well, I'm a Willow/ Kennedy fan, and since she isn't in this fic Willow/Oz would come in second. But like I said, no shippers when they're little, that would just be kinda wrong. ~ Why didn't Xander and Oz get evaluation inspection thingies? Xander hasn't been around that long yet, so isn't due and Oz is constantly being checked up on cos of his werewolf side so doesn't need one (yes... I planned that all along... really I did... Of course I didn't just make that up, would I do a thing like that? ~looks innocent~ )   
  
And (added about 3 weeks after above notes) Sorry about how long I took to finish this chapter. Got a lot of things due, and tests, at the moment.  
  
Anyway, now for a chapter, which hopefully will meet everyone's approval for little kiddiness.   
  
CHAPTER 19 Wes sighed in frustration. Where had those children gone now? Couldn't they stay in one place for at least a few moments? He was never going to catch them all at this rate.   
  
Giles had been called away, and had left at once, meaning that Wesley was in charge of the children. And he really wished that was not the case.   
  
That gang of little hooligans were running around Traverston yelling at the top of their voices. He was starting to think that letting them have sweets had not been such a good idea.   
  
But they never went mad like this when Giles was here. In fact they had never done this before at all. Generally sugar didn't affect them in this way. He was starting to think that they were perhaps doing it on purpose. But they wouldn't do that, would they?  
  
He sighed again. He had been chasing the children around for almost an hour, all to no avail. The little demons obviously didn't want to be caught. They kept evading him. Sometimes he really wished they weren't so good at hiding.   
  
Buffy giggled at the disgruntled look on Wes' face. He looked so funny. Like Giles used to, before he had got used to their games.   
  
She and the others hadn't had much of their style of fun for a while. Giles had developed a strong instinct for knowing when they were planning something. And had become skilled at figuring out just what that plan entailed. So he had kept finding them out before they could get into any mischief. Life had really become a little boring.   
  
But now Giles had been called away to something to do with the Watchers council. Buffy wasn't sure what it was exactly, but she did know that they were going to make the most of his absence. That meant as much fun as they wanted. And making Wes chase them around Traverston classified as fun.   
  
Angel shook his head in amusement. He had been watching the children's antics from the shadows. They were certainly leading the poor Watcher on a good chase.   
  
He knew he really should help the man. It was plenty dark enough for him to leave his current position. But he couldn't make himself spoil the children's fun. They had all been worked harder than normal recently, due to the 6 monthly evaluations. The work had dampened their spirits a little, and they had been more serious than usual, acting older than their age. It was good for them to have a little fun.   
  
Faith giggled. This was fun. They hadn't done this in a long time. Giles was too good at chase. Playing it with him didn't work very often any more. But it sure worked on Wes. He was even worse than Giles had been when she'd first come here. He'd beat Giles' slowest time already, and the game didn't seem anywhere near finished to her.   
  
She caught sight of Wes again and dashed away. None of her friends were with Wes yet, so she wasn't getting anywhere near him. No way was she going to be the first one caught.   
  
Faith wondered where the others were. They had scattered when Wes had come too close to catching them.   
  
She shrugged. It would be more fun on her own. Plus their game would last longer the more they were spread out.   
  
She ran again, this time into the shadows of a nearby building. And crashed straight into a tall and fairly solid object that let out an "oomph" when she hit it.   
  
Angel smiled down at the small Potential who had just collided with him. "Hi Faith" he said.  
  
Faith stared up in surprise. What was Angel doing here? Was he going to tell on her to Wes?   
  
Oz crouched behind a bush, watching his red- headed friend. Wesley was right behind her, If she didn't hide soon she was going to get caught.   
  
He made up his mind. He wasn't going to let Willow be caught. Even if it meant he had to sacrifice himself.   
  
He leaped up and let out a war cry, causing Wes to spin around in surprise, and giving Willow time to hide herself again.   
  
Wes glared over at the little werewolf. "Daniel Osbourne, come out of there and stop this nonsense" he called, heading over that way himself.   
  
Oz stuck his tongue out at Wes. OK, maybe he wasn't going to sacrifice himself. "I'm Oz, not Daniel" he shouted, before darting away into the undergrowth.   
  
Wesley frowned. He was definitely getting tired of this now. He didn't know how Giles managed this bunch.   
  
"Children, come out please, enough is enough" he called, wincing at how pathetic that sounded. He had no illusions about the children's response to that.   
  
He got exactly the response he had expected. None at all.  
  
Kendra laughed at Wesley's statement. The Watcher surely did not expect her and her friends to stop their fun just 'cause he wanted them to. She was enjoying this chase. They had not played like this for at least a few months.   
  
She wondered how Xander was doing. He had not played chase with them before. She didn't know if he was any good. But he must be, or surely he would have been caught by now.   
  
She ducked out of sight as a scowling Wesley turned around, obviously trying to sight them.   
  
"Don't tell" Faith pleaded, looking up at Angel with her best puppy- dog eyes.   
  
He grinned at her. "Don't worry Faith. I'm not going to spoil your fun" he reassured her.   
  
"Now's probably a good time to run" he pointed out. "Wes is facing the other direction."   
  
Faith grinned her thanks at him and took his advice, slinking away and out of sight.   
  
Xander felt a hand clap down on his shoulder. He turned around in surprise. Wesley was over the other side of the clearing. He could see him. So who was behind him?   
  
"Game's over" Giles said. "Go and get the others"  
  
Authors note: This isn't where I was planned to finish, but I wanted to get this posted tonight, so I had to stop. Anyway, please review, and I hope I'll be able to get the next chapter up sooner than this one. 


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: See previous chapters  
  
Authors note: I actually got to Chapter 20 of this fic. Wow. Considering I normally get bored after 3 or 4 chapters that's pretty good. I'm guessing I'm back on track with the kids as no-one has said otherwise. So good. I'll try and keep it so.  
  
CHAPTER 20  
  
Giles glared around at the children. So much for them behaving themselves. They had all promised faithfully yesterday evening that they would be good for Wesley. He hadn't really expected them to stick to it, but he would have liked to have been proved wrong.   
  
Apparently they had been fine until after their training sessions. Then they had gone crazy. The way Wes was describing their antics it sounded as if they had been purposely tormenting him for several hours.   
  
All he knew was that he had arrived back to the town to find Xander hiding behind a tree and Wesley dashing around desperately chasing several speedy little shapes. To him that did not seem to classify as behaving.   
  
He looked back at their contrite little faces and smiled slightly. Yes, he knew it was just a show, but they looked so sorry.   
  
"Well, now we have all of you in the one spot, there is someone I'd like to meet" he said, putting a slight reproach into his tone. He nodded over at Willow. "I believe you already know her Willow"   
  
Willow looked startled. Someone she knew? Who could that be? And where was whoever it was? She couldn't see anyone.   
  
"Who?" she asked curiously.   
  
Giles smiled at his student. "An old friend of yours" he answered mysteriously.   
  
Willow pouted at him. "I wanna know who! Tell!" she demanded.   
  
"Go and see for yourself" Giles told her.   
  
Willow ran over to the car excitedly and flung open the door. A second later the others heard her yell own excitedly.  
  
"Tara! What are you doin' here?" Willow demanded in delight, as she saw her old best friend for the first time in almost a year.   
  
"Hey Will" Tara said quietly.   
  
Willow grabbed her friend by the hand and excitedly pulled her out of the car and towards Buffy, Kendra, Faith and the boys.   
  
"This is Tara" she introduced. "She was my bestest best friend before I came here. She's a witch too, right Tara?"   
  
Tara smiled shyly. This new Willow was a little overwhelming. The Will she remembered had been shy, almost as much as Tara herself.   
  
Buffy grinned over at the brown haired girl Willow was still holding enthusiastically by the hand. "Hi" she said simply.   
  
Willow took over again. "These are my friends here. The blond one's Buffy, that's Kendra and that's Faith. They're all Potentials," she said, unaware of the fact that she was babbling, tripping over her own words in her excitement.   
  
Tara grinned nervously at them "Hi" she murmured. She wasn't sure what she thought about them. They looked a bit scary, although they were obviously trying to be friendly.   
  
"And these are the guys" Willow continued, oblivious to her friend nervousness. "That's Xander, and that's Oz. Oz is a werewolf"   
  
Tara couldn't help feeling a little scared at that. No one had told her one of the boys was a werewolf. Weren't werewolves nasty? They always were in the books her dad got her to read.   
  
"Oh don't worry, Oz doesn't bite" Willow said cheerfully, seeing the look this time, and guessing it's cause. She remembered that she had felt a little scared too, when they had first found out about Oz being a wolfie.  
  
"Nope, don't bite" Oz agreed. "And I only go wolf-y a few times a month. And I don't hurt anyone then. Wes locks me in a cage so I cant"   
  
Tara tried to smile at him. "Um... that's... nice," she said weakly. That made it sound like he would hurt people, if he wasn't locked up. What would happen if he somehow got loose?   
  
She decided she was going to stay well away from Oz when the full moon was due. Just to be on the safe side. Although Oz certainly didn't look dangerous. Except that his grin was a little wolfish. But she figured she could handle that.   
  
She wasn't sure what sure thought of the other boy either. He seemed friendly, like the others. She liked his smile. It was silly. He looked like the kind of person she imagined would always be joking. She'd never really known anyone silly before. Most of the people she knew were Watcher's children. And Watchers liked people to be sensible. So their kids generally didn't muck about.   
  
Well not normally anyway. She and Willow had been silly sometimes when they were together. It was fun, and their parents hadn't minded too much as long as they didn't get too bad.   
  
She felt Willow drag on her arm again and started walking. They were heading towards a house, which she guessed must be where she was going to live.   
  
"That's our house" Willow said proudly, liking acting as a tour guide. She quite liked showing people around places, and Tara was her friend, so she was going to show her all the best places.   
  
She led her friend into her room, to show her around. To Willow's surprise there was now another be, alongside her own. She blinked, then grinned.   
  
"I guess you're sleeping in here with me!" she exclaimed, still rather giddy.   
  
"Guess so" Tara answered her with a grin. She was deciding that maybe she did like this new Willow, even if she was rather different from who she remembered.   
  
The way her friend was now seemed to indicate that she liked fun. And the Giles guy had told her about some of the things that Willow and the others had done.   
  
Tara was sure her father would not disapprove of her and Willow having fun, not as long as she did her lessons well. He never had before. And she could always stop it if he didn't like it. He would say when he visited.   
  
Maybe this was going to be a good place to live after all.   
  
Authors note: Review please, I'll try and update soon. 


	21. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: Characters off BtVS belong to Joss Whedon etc, not to me.   
  
Authors note: Sorry I took so long. I'm running out of ideas for this story. If there's anything anyone would like me to write into it please suggest it.   
  
OK, I've skipped a couple of months ahead, just so the kids aren't going to stay 5 forever.   
  
CHAPTER 21 Giles smiled approvingly down at Tara. The child was progressing well in her magickal studies. He expected it would not take her more than a few months longer to catch up with Willow.   
  
Willow had more power than Tara, but it had still taken her almost four months to learn what Tara had in two. But to be fair to Willow, Tara had been at a more advanced stage when Giles had started teaching her. The two girls were probably about even really.   
  
Giles shook his head at himself. He really must stop comparing the two to each other. It wasn't fair to them.   
  
"You can put the cup down now," he told Tara. "We've done enough for today"   
  
Tara gratefully stopped levitating the cup. It was way harder to keep steady than a pencil, and she kept getting distracted. She didn't know how Willow could manage it so easily.   
  
"Can I go get ready for the party?" she asked excitedly. It was Buffy's birthday and they were all going to have a party this evening, to celebrate.  
  
"Of course," Giles said, smiling at her excitement. "You don't have to get permission for things like that, remember"   
  
Giles was trying to break Tara of the habit of always asking if she could do things. A magick user needed to think for their self, to know if they should or should not do something.   
  
Tara grinned at him. "I know" she said, "I just forgot."   
  
She ran off to find the others and get ready.   
  
Giles looked after her. The child's confidence was really improving. When she had arrived here she had practically never spoken unless someone asked her something. Now, she was turning into a right chatterbox around people she knew. As far as he was concerned this was a very good thing. He had been slightly nervous that Tara would not become friendly with the other children, that her shyness would prevent them from becoming good friends. But once she had been around for a few weeks her confidence had gradually built and she had forged a strong bond with the group, especially Kendra.   
  
That had surprised him. Kendra had withdrawn from the group in recent months, and had been spending much time alone, or practicing with Sam Zabuto. To Giles it seemed like the girl was uncomfortable with so many people around. She had been withdrawing ever since the arrival of Willow, nearly a year ago.   
  
But the shy young witch and the quietest of the Potentials had been playing together. He suspected that Kendra was teaching Tara some use of weapons and Tara showing Kendra some of her skills in magick.  
  
Normally he would have discouraged such exhibition, but he found the two seemed to be helping the other in both their learning and finding their place in the little gang, so he had to approve.   
  
Tara ran excitedly to find Kendra. "I did it!" she exclaimed proudly. "I floated the cup and I didn't drop it once!"   
  
Levitation was the hardest thing she had learnt yet. She'd been practicing for ages, and today was the first time she'd actually managed to do it without losing control.   
  
Tara grinned. Today was a good day. She had a party to look forward to tonight, and she'd finally managed to float the cup.   
  
"Go you!" Kendra grinned back at her.   
  
Kendra was glad that Tara had come to study here in Traverston. Tara was a little calmer than all the others, and didn't have as much fun getting into trouble.   
  
Kendra had been finding that the tricks she and the others played on people hadn't been as fun as they used to. She guessed that the fact they got found out a lot more might have something to do with that. Since the gang was getting pretty large now it was harder for them to hide themselves, and to do things without people noticing. A gang of five- year old kids running around giggling isn't exactly an easy thing to miss.   
  
She missed when it had just been her, Faith and Buffy. Ever since all the others had arrived she had felt left out.   
  
Not that she didn't like the others or anything. They were all her friends, she just didn't really have a best friend any more. She was a little lonely. Even though there were really more people than ever around.  
  
"You coming to get ready?" Tara asked her friend, bouncing a little in excitement at the thought of the evening. Tara had never been to many kid's parties, but she had loved every single one she had been to. The last had been Willow's 5th birthday, and they had had a lot of fun. She couldn't remember any time she'd had much more fun.   
  
"Yep!" Kendra said. She was excited too. She enjoyed parties, and really liked the ice-cream that Giles got in whenever it was theirs. It was yummy. And they didn't get sweet stuff that much because Giles said it was bad for them. Kendra didn't see how that could be true. Brussels sprouts tasted icky, so they should be bad for you. Sweet things were good. Yet Giles made them eat yucky vegetables and said they were good.   
  
The two raced each other back home, eager to get ready and wrap Buffy's present.   
  
Authors note: Argh, I really am not happy with where I'm ending this chapter, or how. But if I put the whole thing in one chap it would probably be another month or so until you get the next one, not to mention really long. So I'll post this one now, and write the next one, which is on the same day, about the party, hopefully not in the too distant future. 


	22. Clearing up facts not a real chapter

Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all related things belong to Joss Whedon etc. The plot is mine, but basically nothing else is.   
  
Authors note: Okay, this isn't a real chapter. I'm even confusing myself with the detail of this fic, so I've decided to put in a summary of times and stuff like that. It's mainly for my own reference, but since I'm confused I guess you guys might be, so I'll post it. It also has other points that I want to clear up to you guys.  
  
*The first chapter took place just after Faith (I'm saying she's the youngest of the three) had her fifth birthday. Buffy is the eldest by about 2 months then Kendra is 1 month older than Faith. So it is roughly nine months since Willow came to Traverston.   
  
*They used to share a barracks style house with other Potentials and instructors (I mentioned this in the 1st chapter), but since Willow (and the others) came they have moved into a smaller house which is near the other Potentials but also near the part of Traverston where Watchers, their families and the magick students live. This is because otherwise Willow, Tara, Oz and Xander (did I forget anyone?) would be living with Potentials and 'normal' children are generally not allowed to mix with Potentials.   
  
*This has been relaxed in the case of Buffy, Kendra and Faith because no one else in the council wants the job of looking after them, so it is easier just to leave them with Giles and the others.   
  
*Willow was allowed to train with the Potentials because she is the child of Watchers and thus is expected to become a Watcher someday. There are obviously no qualms about Watchers mixing with Potentials. But this was stopped soon after Oz arrived because Oz wanted to join in on the grounds that Willow was allowed, so Willow was also banned.   
  
*Angel generally lives in a house in the nearby forest, but tends to come into Traverston regularly to give seminars on vampires, and to access his spare blood supply which is stored in the town. He is on okay terms with the Council, but naturally they don't truly trust him and there is always at least one Watcher around when he teaches groups of Potentials, just in case of danger.   
  
*Angel has an extremely large soft spot for the small children, and Buffy and co often train with him, or just go to see him to play. However, they are forbidden from going to his house by themselves, because they kept getting lost (see chapter 3)  
  
*When I started writing this I didn't actually know much about Potentials. I was under the idea that they had weak versions of the Slayer powers, which thanks to season 7 I know is not true. I have kept it that they are faster and stronger than normal kids, simply for continuity.   
  
*The three core Potentials tend to outshine a lot of the other Potentials. I say that this is because they started so young, and it is a fact that small kids learn a lot faster. However, I think I should really tone this down because it's starting to become completely unbelievable for a five year old to do the things I get them to. It has taken Buffy what, seven years in the series? I know it's becoming unbelievable and this is why I'm telling you   
  
*It is getting hard for me to think up plots, and this is part of the reason why my updates have been so slow. Also, it is the end of assessment for the school year, meaning I have a lot of tests and assignments. On top of this, I have an after school and weekend job, meaning that I'm really quite low on time for fanfic. Right now I'm supposed to be doing an assignment, but I'm doing this because its been bugging me.   
  
*I do want to bring Spike, and maybe Anya, in. I think it's totally crap that they killed them off, since I liked them. I just have to figure out how to get him/them into little kids. Anya might work as and adult, but if Spike's coming in he's gonna be a kid. Any suggestions would be welcome.   
  
*When story ideas hit I write them. This one aint biting, so it's not being updated. If you want me to include anything, please tell me in a review, which will give me an idea and I can write it up. You'll find that's what happened in several of the earlier chapters.   
  
*And finally, yes, I'm aware that this is almost as long as some of the chapters and the time I just spent writing this would have been better spent on giving you a chapter. But sorry, I needed to write this, for my sake. If you have any more questions you want cleared up post them in reviews of email me at niccilouboyd@yahoo.com.au and I'll be happy to answer. And thanks if anyone actually read this. I don't expect you to review, but it'd make me happy if you did *looks at everyone with pleading eyes* 


	23. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all related characters belong to Joss Whedon, etc.   
  
Authors note: Okay, heres the real chapter. I hope you enjoy. Thanks to everyone for giving me ideas for later on, and thanks for the help on how to bring Anya/Spike in.   
  
Oh, and to the person that asked, AU means that it's basically set in an alternate universe, so things are not the same as in the TV series.   
  
CHAPTER 22  
  
Buffy half- heartedly struck out at her opponent. She didn't want to fight today. It was her birthday. Giles was so mean; he should have let her have the day off. She wanted to open presents and stuff, like you were supposed to do on your birthday. But Giles had said that she wasn't allowed to do all that until training was over. He said it was good discipline to learn, that you couldn't just drop important stuff when something you wanted to do more came up.   
  
But as far as she was concerned you should be able to. Fun stuff should be more important than stuff you did all the time. And you only got one birthday a year.   
  
Faith grinned over at her friend, who obviously wasn't having a very good time. "Hey cheer up B," she said, using the nickname she had recently concocted for Buffy "We've got the party to look forward to tonight." Then she winced. Whoops. That was supposed to be a secret. Giles had threatened that anyone who let it out wouldn't be allowed to come. Faith thought he'd been joking but you never knew with Giles.   
  
"What party?" Buffy demanded, stopping in her spar, and glaring at her partner until she did the same. As far as she knew all that was happening tonight was she got presents. Giles had specifically said that she wasn't having a party. Had he been making stuff up?   
  
"Never mind" Faith said. "I must've been thinking about some other time."   
  
Buffy didn't believe her. Today was suddenly looking a whole lot better. Maybe Giles was making her train so he had time to get stuff ready. That'd be cool.   
  
"Nuh unh." Buffy said firmly. "We never have parties. Giles says they've got a bad effect on us." She suspected that could have come from the time they had a food fight in the dining room. He had not been impressed, to put it lightly.   
  
"Oh, alright." Faith said, pouting. "We're having a birthday party for you tonight. But don't you dare tell Giles I told you." She paused for a moment, trying to think of a reasonable threat. "If you do... um... I'll tickle you!"   
  
Buffy's eyes widened in mock horror. "No!" She screamed playfully. "No tickling!"   
  
The small blond Potential was very ticklish. Tickle torture for her really was torture. Although very fun torture.   
  
Buffy's former opponent, who had been waiting for the two smaller kids to finish their conversation, was getting impatient. "Hey, kids, chat later would you? Some of us want to practice," she demanded.   
  
Buffy stuck her tongue out at her. "Go find someone else to spar with then." She said. "I wanna talk to my friend and I'm not stopping because of you."  
  
Much to Buffy's misfortune she happened to say that just as Wesley was wandering by to look for Xander and Oz.   
  
"Buffy!" he exclaimed in horror "Have you no respect for those older than you?" He was quite shocked by the child. She may not have been the best mannered child, but she normally was not so rude.   
  
"Nope" Buffy said, a little sulkily. Why was everyone ganging up on her today? It wasn't fair. It was her birthday. People should be nice.   
  
"Well, I believe someone does not deserve to learn sparring today" he said. "Come out of there now, you can just spend the rest of the afternoon with me."  
  
Buffy glared at him. "Don't wanna," she said. "You're boring"   
  
Wesley glared right back at the child. "Right" he said. "We're going right home, and I think you need to have a little chat with Giles about rudeness."   
  
Buffy was having none of that. She hated being lectured by Giles. He'd gotten so much better at ignoring their 'sorry' faces. He made them feel bad, and Buffy didn't like that.   
  
She darted off, not caring where she was going, just wanting to get away.   
  
Wesley looked off after the child. What on earth was wrong with her today?   
  
Faith kicked him in the shin. "That was mean." She told him. "It's her birthday. You're supposed to be nice to her." Everyone knew that. It was the rules. And Wesley had broken them. So she was allowed to break the 'no kicking people except in spar' rule.   
  
Wesley gaped at her. "It's her birthday?" he said. "Why didn't anybody tell me?" Now he was feeling rather guilty for snapping at the child. She had probably just been upset because he hadn't mentioned her birthday. He could remember how terrible it was to think that no one cared that you were older, that you had reached a new age.   
  
Yes. He could remember quite clearly. His family had never been one for celebrations, but like any child he had enjoyed a good party. He had been so disappointed when, the year he turned 10, his whole family ignored his birthday. The first time it had happened her had felt thoroughly unloved, although of course that was not the case. Wesley had enormous respect for his family and knew they returned his love, in their own way.   
  
"It's because you're boring" Faith told him matter-of-factly. "No-body remembers to tell you."   
  
Wesley was stung. That was not a nice thing for the girl to say. He was not boring. It wasn't his fault if he had a different set of priorities than the children.  
  
Faith seemed to realise she had said something wrong. "No offence" she said, as if that took all the hurt away.   
  
"I suppose I had better go and find Buffy" Wesley told her with a sigh. "Have a nice time sparring."  
  
He wandered off in the direction that Buffy had run in. "Buffy, please come back," he called, "I'm sorry I snapped. I'm not angry with you, really."   
  
A small head poked around a corner. "Really?" Buffy asked.   
  
"Really" Wesley promised her.   
  
As he drew closer Wesley noticed that the child had tears in her eyes. Had she been crying? Surely not? He had never seen her cry, and to his knowledge she had never shed a tear when hurt while sparring.   
  
When he reached her he did something he had never done before. He bent down and gave the child a hug.   
  
Buffy stiffened in Wesley's arms. He had never hugged any of them before. It was strange. Then she realised it wasn't bad. It made her feel more happy, like hugs from her parents always had, like hugs from Giles did. She nestled down and hugged him back.   
  
Wesley stroked the child's hair. He was surprised at how natural it felt, comforting a child like this. He scooped her up, and straightened.   
  
"Come on, let's go home," he said quietly. Buffy nodded and rested her head against his shoulder. She may have been six now, but being carried felt right just now.   
  
Wes carried the child back to their house. He realised that she had exhausted herself, and fallen asleep. So he settled her down in her bed and left her alone.   
  
When Buffy awakened she found that her favourite jeans and her nicest t-shirt had been set out ready for her to put on.   
  
She got up and dressed, realising how much better she felt now. And realising that this was her second birthday without her parents.   
  
She also remembered how sad she had been when her mummy and daddy had not come to wish her a happy birthday last year. And the same sadness still lurked in her mind today. She wished they were here, even though she knew that they were gone and they weren't coming back.   
  
"Hello sleepy" a male voice called through the doorway. Her heart jumped. It was her daddy. But then she recognised Giles' voice.  
  
"Hello" she responded.   
  
"Well, do you want to come down and open your presents or not?" Giles asked his ward with a smile. "Come on, get dressed"   
  
The child threw on her clothes in record time. It seemed that the magic word 'presents' had worked.   
  
Giles had been concerned when Wesley had come into the house with Buffy in his arms. He had thought the child was injured and unconscious. When he found out that she was just asleep his relief had been immeasurable. Although he never mentioned it to anyone, in his heart he thought of Buffy as his daughter. He had known her, and looked after her for most of her life after all.   
  
"I wish mummy and daddy were here" Buffy murmured, almost to herself. She didn't know if she wanted Giles to hear or not.   
  
But he did. "Oh, Buffy" he sighed. "I know you miss them. I do too." That was for sure. Joyce and Hank had become two of his closest friends, before they had died, protecting their daughter. He always missed them.   
  
Buffy however, hardly ever mentioned them. Some of the time he thought she must have forgotten them. Although he knew that could not possibly be true. Her parents had been killed almost in front of her. He was certain that there was no way that had not imprinted on her mind. He just hoped she could also remember the happy times she had shared before their deaths.  
  
"They're here" Buffy said suddenly. "I can't see them, cos they're dead, but I know they're here anyway."  
  
She said it with the simplicity of a child, and it touched Giles. "Of course they're here" he said. "They would never leave you". In his head he added "And neither would I." He didn't say it out loud though.   
  
"Can we get my presents now?" Buffy asked, her mood swinging in that way that only small children could manage.   
  
"Come on then" he said, following her out into the living room, where everyone was waiting.   
  
"Open mine first" Faith yelled.   
  
"Mine" Kendra and Tara disagreed in unison.  
  
"I wanna open Willow's first" Buffy said. She knew what her best friend had gotten her, and she wanted to show everyone else. Willow hadn't been able to resist telling her.   
  
The gift was a beautiful snow globe. The scene inside it was made to look like her and her friends: Kendra, Faith, Willow, Oz, Xander, Giles, Wesley and Tara. They were obviously playing some sort of game and you could tell that everyone was happy.  
  
Willow had been so proud. Giles, her and Wesley had all worked together to get the people to look like them.   
  
"It's so pretty" Buffy said. Although Willow had described it to her, this was the first time she had seen it.   
  
"It's from Wes and Giles too" Willow reminded her.  
  
Wesley frowned at Giles "Why did no-one tell me that that was for Buffy's birthday?" he whispered in his fellow Watcher's ear. "I had no idea that it was her birthday, until Faith told me"   
  
Giles shrugged. "I thought you knew," he said. "It is all we've been talking about when Buffy's not around."  
  
Meanwhile Buffy had moved on to the rest of her presents. There were exclamations of glee and thanks whenever she opened one.   
  
When the present opening had finished it was time for the party to begin in real. Buffy of course, acted as if she were totally surprised. Or her version of what totally surprised looked like anyway.   
  
Giles shook his head. Either Faith or Willow had given it away. He knew they would. But it was sweet of Buffy to pretend she didn't know, even if her pretence just made it painfully obvious. The child just was not cut out to be an actress.   
  
As she was stuffing herself with cake and ice cream, Buffy decided that this birthday wasn't bad after all. In fact, she decided, it was great.   
  
Giles looked at Buffy and sighed. Today seemed to mark a turning point somehow. The eldest of his young Slayers was old enough to start school. His little family was growing up. It would be only a few years before the Council would require them to have more advanced training than they received here. Then they would be leaving him. To him, today seemed to be the end of Buffy's time as 'Giles' little Potential' and the start of, well, he didn't know, but he knew he would be there to see it.   
  
THE END  
  
Authors note: Yes, I know there were more chapters after this, but I've taken Gidgetgirl, and a few other's advice (again) and put them into a new story. It takes up a few months after this; making it pretty much a year after 'Young Slayers' began. Go and read it for the continuation. It's called 'times of change' 


End file.
